Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies
by reactiverainbow
Summary: The sequel to Rainbow Six Siege: Undercover. Time has passed since the deaths of Valkyrie, Ela, and Bandit. As Rainbow still struggles to adjust to the loss of three good friends and teammates, the Grim Sky Urban Tactical Response Team is added to Rainbow's roster to take on a mysterious op.
1. Chapter 1

**Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies**

 _ **The Sequel to Rainbow Six Siege: Undercover**_

 **Prologue**

The Grim Sky Urban Tactical Response Unit, Rainbow's newest unit, felt uneasy about their mission. The details on what was happening in London were vague. All they could do was try to stay calm and focus on what was in front of them. The two Blackhawk helicopters plowed their way through the intense rain storm England had thrown at them. The first Blackhawk carried the Rainbow Six operators while the second carried a platoon of Royal Marines. Flashes of lightning spooked some of the operators looking out the open side sliding doors. Turbulence and wind jostled the helicopter around as it began to make its decent through the low hanging storm clouds. As the operators peered out of the helicopter through the night time and fog they began to see the lights of the London's skyline. The city's lights mixed with fog and rain storm made the city look haunted. The helicopters went into shallow left bank over the River Thames heading toward the upper west side of London. The dark silhouette of Big Ben could partially be seen through the dense fog and rain.

"2 minutes till touchdown." The pilot said.

Maverick glanced up at his squad mate Clash. She looked back at him with eyes full of determination. She loaded a clip into her pistol and gave him a nod of approval. Maverick smirked at her and loaded a magazine full of 50 caliber Beowulf rounds into his AR 15 and cocked the rifle.

She was always down for a good fight. It was her nature. Its what made her such a great riot control officer in the Scotland Yard.

Maverick looked around at the other operators taking part in the mission.

Diagonal from Maverick was Polish GROM operator Zofia Bosak who stared out the window of the helicopter at the bright city lights below. She looked uneasy. Ever since the death of her younger sister she hasn't been herself. The operators used to know her as someone who was confident and determined to take on a challenge. Now she was distant and didn't speak to anyone. She also had been taking less risks and operating with a more conservative approach then what the other operators were used to as if she were holding herself back for something.

Sitting next to Zofia was Israeli FBI SWAT operator Ash. Ash tapped her foot nervously on the metal floor staring at her boots. She appeared to be muttering something to herself in a different language. It sounded like Hebrew. Six had specially assigned Ash for this mission for reasons unknown to Maverick. Ash wasn't happy about the assignment and she felt even worse when she found out she would be team leader for the mission. She cradled her R4-C in her hands like she was holding child. Her breaching launcher hung loosely off the front of her vest. She looked scared. Maverick couldn't tell what the operator was afraid of.

Maverick looked at Ash with curiosity.

"What are you so afraid of?" He asked bluntly.

Ash slowly picked up her head and looked at the blonde-haired man dressed in Middle Eastern clothing. He couldn't see Ash's eyes from behind her black glasses, but he could tell she was looking him up and down judging him.

"If you've seen the things I've seen you'd be a little nervous before strange ops like these."

Maverick rolled his eyes at her comment.

"Don't act like you're the only person on this aircraft who's seen shit." He said arrogantly.

Ash shook her head in frustration and ignore him. They haven't even touched the ground yet and she was starting to hate the new operator already.

"For the new guy you have a lot of audacity to be talking like that." The Russian Spetsnaz and CBRN operator Finka said.

"I'm trying to make sure our team leader isn't going to cut and run."

Finka stared at Maverick with hatred and cracked her knuckles.

"It's not Ash you should be worried about. You should be worrying about yourself. I read your file before you joined Maverick. I know what you're capable of and where you've came from. You better not disappoint." She sneered.

 _Right back at you Lera. Don't think I know your secrets._ Maverick thought to himself.

Maverick looked down at his feet. He could tell this was going to be a long mission by the way things were already starting to go for him. Maverick was skeptical about Fink's abilities as an operator. He was the best intelligence gatherer in the world and he wanted to get to know his team before he deployed with them. He did some digging and found classified information that Finka was struggling with a nerve disease that effected felling in her extremities, but he wasn't going to tell her he knew. It was classified information after all.

Next to Finka was the other CBRN operator but from the French GIGN, Lion. Lion played with the tablet attached to his wrist that controlled his own specialized drone. From what Maverick knew, the drone could detect enemy movement in the surrounding area which was going to help their team greatly for this mission. Maverick had heard a lot about Lion from word on the street. Nobody on Rainbow really like him because he had a shitty attitude but apparently, he was also a very effective operator in the field. Maverick would keep an eye on him through out the mission to make a true judging of his character.

"One minute folks. Welcome to paradise." The pilot said.

The operators moved to edge of the helicopter's doors. Ash scooched to the floor of the helicopter and let her legs dangle outside the helicopter. She loaded a breaching round into her grenade launcher and let it dangle off the front of her vest. Lion crouched next to her. He did the sign of the cross and switched his V308 off safe.

"Jager, try not to crash the helicopter like you did in New Mexico." Ash said with a sly grin.

"Ja, ja, whatever. 30 seconds people." He said annoyed.

The helicopters slowed to a hover just above the city streets. The clouds and fog obstructed their vision only allowing them to see a few feet in front of them. They could barely see the helicopter full of Royal Marines off to their side.

"Let's move." Ash commanded and slid out of the helicopter. She tumbled into a summersault when she hit the ground to ease her fall. The other operators followed close behind. She scanned the environment back and forth through the ACOG sight on her R4-C.

There were no signs of threats.

She turned back to Jager and gave him a thumbs up. Jager gave her a quick salute and flew away along with the other helicopter leaving Rainbow and the Royal Marines alone.

"Six, Rainbow and British Marines are on the ground." Jager said on comms.

"Copy."

The team stayed crouched in the streets listening to the environment around them. The city appeared to be a ghost town. The heavy rain drenched the operators. Gusts of wind blew trash around the streets and howled loudly between the buildings. Dense fog continued to obstruct their vision. In the distance they could hear small bits of gunfire followed by some explosions.

"Eliza, do you really think its them? Do you think the intel you were given is accurate?" A familiar voice said from Ash's right side.

Ash turned to see one of her old friends who had passed away a long time ago crouched next to her trying to peer through the dense fog. She was dressed in her usual battle attire but wore an olive drab hoodie to keep warm from the rain instead of her usual blue t shirt.

"I don't know Meghan. I'm praying to God it's not." Ash said frowning.

"The intel from todays briefing matched up with the intel I uncovered last time we dealt with this threat."

"I know. It matched up way too well and that's what worries me." Eliza said halfheartedly.

Ash lifted her hand gave a signal to advance down the street quietly. The operators and the soldiers moved quietly down the block of the street toward their objective. Clash took point with her shield fully extended. Ash followed with her R4-C aimed over Clash's shoulder using her as mobile cover like she normally did was Montagne or Blitz. The rest of the operators followed in a triangle formation. The Royal Marines trailed behind Rainbow.

"Zo, what do you think of the new girl? I think she's weird." Another female voice said.

Zo rolled her eyes.

"Ela, I'm not having this conversation right now."

Ela walked besides her sister with her hands stuffed in her jacket pockets.

"Look at her Zo. She looks so scary… and very bald."

"Ela please."

"I'm just saying. I mean where did Six find these new operators? The circus? That blonde headed guy is dressed like the terrorists I had to kill back Iraq."

"Hey, did you say something?" Maverick asked.

Zo looked away embarrassed. Ela giggled next to her.

"Oh… um… sorry Maverick. Just talking to myself." She said to him sheepishly.

"Cut the chatter and stay focused. We're supposed to be quiet." Maverick scolded.

"Yeah, sorry."

Zo gave Ela a dirty look. Her younger sister was going to be the death of her.

After several minutes of walking Ash suddenly put her hand up signaling to stop. She thought she heard a trash can fall to the ground.

"Enemy is front." She whispered over comms.

The operators and the Royal Marines raised their weapons ahead preparing for what lay ahead of them. Clash stood tall with her thumb over the trigger of the tasers on her shield. Ash looked through her scope trying to find a target, but the fog kept her from seeing anything. Zofia moved behind a car and rest her LMG on the hood. Finka followed Zofia's movements and took position on the opposite end of the street creating a kill zone in front of Ash and Clash. The platoon of Royal Marines behind the operators spread out creating a perimeter.

The units kept their sights trained ahead waiting and watching. There was more rustling of debris. Ash was about to give the word to open fire when a small Yellow Labrador puppy came scurrying out from the concealment of the fog.

Ash exhaled a sigh of relief and lowered her weapon.

"Hold your fire is just a dog." She said lowering her weapon.

The operators called out down the line that noise was just a dog.

The puppy ran up to Lion looking for attention. Lion lowered his weapon and picked up the puppy.

"What are you doing out here fella?" He said petting the dog.

"Put the dog down Olivier." Finka hissed.

Lion gave her a look of disappointment. Ash took a knee in the street next to Clash. She took advantage of the small break to pull out a map of the area and get her bearings.

"What are you thinking Ash?" Clash asked glancing down at the map.

"With all this fog I can't tell if we're moving in the right direction. I don't want to commit our squad to the wrong direction."

"I see."

"This is a good position to stop and get Lion's drone set up. We can split up. I'm gonna stay back with Lion and Finka. I'll get Lion to set up his drone while I try and get our bearings. There should be a community square about 3 blocks north of here if my directions are correct. Take Maverick, Zofia, and the Royal Marines three blocks north of us and do some recon. Establish a perimeter if you can and give me a size up. If you can find that square, then it means we're moving the right direction. If you run into any problems fall back to me. Don't get cut off from us. Let Maverick lead. We'll be in contact. Move it."

"Roger that." Clash turned to the rest of the troops. "On me. Let's move. Maverick get behind me, I'll continue on point."

"Eliza, are you sure you want to split up your group?" Meghan asked over her shoulder.

"They can handle it Meghan. I need Lion's drone airborne before we can move any further and I want to keep everyone moving around."

Meghan silently protested in her head.

Ash began to plot a course while Finka helped Lion with setting up his drone.

…

Clash, Maverick, Zofia, and the Royal Marines walked slowly up the foggy streets. Rain beating in their faces. The wind passing over their wet bodies made them feel cold.

"Maverick, you see anything?" Clash asked.

"Can't see shit." He said peering through the fog.

They walked a few more yards up the city streets. The buildings began to open up into a larger more open area. It must be the community square Ash was talking about. That meant she was leading them in the right direction.

They moved up toward the square. The area was covered in debris, shattered glass, and garbage. There were park benches to sit and big statue in the middle. Maverick began to hear what sounded like someone crying.

"You hear that?" He said raising his weapon.  
"Yeah I heard it." Zofia said raising her weapon.

"Stay frosty." Clash said from behind her shield.

Clash stopped moving and raised her hand for everyone to hold their positions.

"Clash, whatcha got?" Maverick asked.

"12 o'clock. It's a little girl against the statue."

Maverick looked past Clash's shoulder to see a little girl against the statue crying softly.

"I see her." He said lowering his weapon.

Zo lowered her LMG and casually walked toward the girl.

"Zofia, get back here." Maverick hissed.

"Establish a perimeter and cover me." She said and continued to walk to toward the girl.

Maverick shook his head in frustration and motioned for the Royal Marines to establish a perimeter.

As Zofia walked closer to the girl she could see she was surrounded by bodies of police and military. She knew something was terribly wrong. The enemy couldn't be far if they were finding bodies. She squatted next to the girl. The girl turned away from her acting shy.

"Hey, no need to be scared we're here to help you. What happened?" She asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

"They're here. Its not safe." She said between sniffles.

"Who's here? I don't understand."

Zofia checked her surroundings and began to feel butterflies in her stomach. They completely exposed on all sides surrounded by midrise buildings that were easily accessible. They could also barely see from the fog. It was a perfect place to launch an ambush and box in an opponent.

Ela crouched down next to Zo.

"Zo, I see movement in the buildings. You need to get out here right now. It's a trap." Ela whispered in her ear.

Maverick jogged up to Zofia. He looked angry.

"Zofia what the fuck are you doing? You're holding us all up. We're not here for fucking children." He said angrily.  
"Maverick, get the men ready to move out. I don't think we're alone. Tell Ash we found the community square but we're falling back to her position." She said with a panicked voice.

"What do you mean we're not alone? I don't hear anyone. We can establish a perimeter and wait." He said looking around but all he could see were the shadows of the surrounding buildings.

"No. We need to get out of here. Look at the bodies."

Maverick recoiled back noticing the bodies on the ground.

"Maverick, that'll be us if we don't move." She said pleading with him.

There was the sound of multiple footsteps running on pavement. They began to hear what sounded like voices.

There was a scream from somewhere in the Royal Marine platoon.

"WHAT THE FUCK THEY GOT THOMAS!" One of the marines screamed.

"WHERE DID THAT COME FROM!" Another marine yelled.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"SIR, THEY GOT US BOXED IN!"

There was another scream. The square suddenly erupted with gunfire as the marines fired wildly into the fog as a firefight began between Grim Sky and their own targets. Large groups of silhouettes danced like ghosts in the fog moving between the platoon picking off one marine after the other.

Maverick keyed up on comms.

"Ash, Ash, this Grim Sky team 2…" Maverick stopped mid-sentence when he saw a silhouette moving toward him. He pulled out his pistol and fired at the target, but it moved into cover behind a bench.

"Maverick say again you're unreadable. Team 2 this is Team 1..." Ash said trying to communicate with him.

Maverick ignored Ash's hails and looked at the chaos that surrounded him. He had led his team into a trap and now they were completely boxed in. He watched as one marine after the other hit the ground covered in their own blood not moving.

They had to run or they'd all be dead in seconds.

"GRAB THE WOUNDED! BREAK CONTACT! FALL BACK! GET BACK TO ASH'S POSITOIN! COVER FIRE! GET BACK TO ASH'S POSITON! COME ON!" Maverick screamed fearfully through the deafening sound of gunfire and other soldiers screaming hoping his team would listen. Zofia picked up the girl and began to withdraw back to Ash's position.

Maverick's turned around and ran as fast he could with the survivors of his team back the came they came with the enemy right on their heels.

"COVER FIRE! COVER FIRE!" Maverick screamed as they ran for their lives back toward Ash.

…

Ash let out a stream of curses at Maverick because he wouldn't reply to her hails. She turned to Lion.

"Lion, is your drone ready?" Ash asked.

"That's correct. Drone is in the air."

Ash, Lion, and Finka perked their heads up to the sound of gunfire.

"Is that Maverick's team?" Finka asked.

"Team 2 this is team 1 do you copy?" Ash keyed up on comms hoping he'd answer again.

"ASH THIS IS TEAM 2 WE FOUND THE COMMUNITY CENTER AND ARE RETROGRADING BACK TO YOUR POSITION UNDER HEAVY CONTACT! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE FUCK WE'E FIGHTING BUT I JUST LOST HALF MY TEAM!"

Ash felt impending doom inside her.

"Lion. Drone it." Ash commanded.

"Big brother coming in for overwatch." Lion said pressing a button on his wrist computer.

The ground began to vibrate as the drone began to scan for movement. The image that showed was something out of nightmare. A small group of white outlines appeared to be running back toward Ash's position. In pursuit of them were 100 different outlines in red charging straight at them.

"Holy shit…" Ash muttered.

Finka looked at her waiting for orders. Ash stood frozen unable to make a decision.

"Ash what do you want us to do?" Finka asked staring at her. The sound of gunfire was getting closer.

"Eliza." Meghan said appearing inches from Ash's face blocking her view of the red outlines that were almost at their location.

"Eliza look at me." Meghan said again.

"Meghan, its them… I can't believe it… I thought we…" Ash stuttered. Cold sweat dripped from her face.

"I know Eliza now get your act together and lead your unit. You have to get out of here."

Ash took in a deep breath.

"Okay." She whispered to herself.

She turned to Finka and Lion.

"Guys we stand our ground here. Finka, give us an adrenal boost. This is about get ugly."

"Incoming surge!" Finka screamed squeezing the button on her glove.

Ash keyed up on her comms.

"Six this is Grim Sky."

"Go ahead."

"Intel given by the English were correct. Its them. Same thing as last time. The upper west side is a dark zone and we're now under heavy contact. We're going to make our stand here. We'll continue to stay in contact."

There was a moment of silence from Six.

"Good luck. God help us all." Six said.


	2. The Real Chapter 1

**Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies**

 **Chapter 1**

" **Love leaves a memory no one can ever steal."**

 **-Anonymous**

 _Earlier_

Marius sat at the bar of the English pub and took a sip from his beer. As the sun began to descend behind the horizon, the more the bar filled with young people. Marius felt uneasy in the bar. He disliked crowded settings and hated talking to people. He preferred a room of solitude over a bustling party scene any day of the week. But he had someone on his mind that kept driving him to come out of his comfort zone and go to the bar every Friday night. He nervously glanced at a young blonde-haired woman at the other end of the bar. She was with a small group of friends gossiping.

"If you have a crush on Monika, why don't you just tell her how you feel instead of giving her stalker eyes." Dominic said sitting on the bar stool to his left. He took a slow drag from his cigarette.

Marius chuckled at the thought and took another sip from his beer.

"Easier said than done mein freund (my friend)."

Dominic shook his head at how pathetic his friend is. He placed his cigarette on an ash tray and turned to face him. He tried to talk some sense into him.

"Marius, you probably have the best chance out of all of us to get with her. Shoot your shot. Worst thing she says is no."

"She's a coworker Dominic. She'll probably think its unprofessional or something."

"Bro, you're overthinking. Be a man and talk to her." Dominic urged him.

"Yeah and if you won't talk to her then good ol' Elias will." Elias Kotz said with a smile as he straightened the collar on his polo shirt.

"Elias don't ruin this for me." Marius said cradling his head in his hands.

"What is there for me to ruin if you never talked to her?" Elias said giving Marius a pat on the back.

Dominic thrusted Marius's beer in his stomach.

"Shotgun your beer and go talk to Monika before that buffoon sitting next to you does."

"Alright, alright, alright I'll go talk to her jeez." Marius said putting his hands up surrender. He took the beer and finished it in one gulp. He hopped off the stool and began to shuffle his way toward the girls.

"Go get em' tiger." Dominic said giving Marius a friendly slap on the butt.

"But what do I even say to her?" He asked as he walked away.

"Ask if you can buy her a drink or something." Dominic said.

Marius shook his head and walked over to Monika's group.

Elias scooched over onto Marius's stool, so he could sit next to Dominic.

"I'll bet you 30 euros the makes himself look like a fool." Elias whispered to Dominic.

Dominic gave Elias a look of disgust.

"Damn Elias betting on your friend to fail? That's not nice."

Dominic's face then melted into a devilish grin.  
"Never mind Elias, make it 50."

"Deal."

Elias and Dominic shook on the bet.

"Man, and I thought I was a bad person. You two are worse." A female said from behind them. Dominic and Elias turned to see Taina Pereira standing behind them. Dominic smiled at her. Elias looked at her confused.

"I can't believe Rainbow actually lets you out at night. Shouldn't you be locked in your cage for the night?" Dominic said trying to push her buttons.

Taina glared at Dominic putting her hands on her hips.

"For your information, I'm not some wild animal."

Elias burst out laughing and lifted his beer to her comment.

"Ha, good one." He said sarcastically and took a sip from his beer.

Marius approached Monika's group from behind. He took one final look back at Elias and Dominic. They looked like a bunch of soccer moms watching their children play as they gave him two thumbs up and big fake smiles. Marius rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Monika. She had no idea he was behind her and he couldn't find the words to talk to her.

" _Talk to her you moron. For God sakes you're a hyper intelligent engineer and a highly lethal GSG-9 operator who's survived nearly impossible odds in the past, but you can't talk to a girl."_ His mind screamed.

"Hey… hey Monika." He managed to spit out. The problem was he spoke so softly nobody heard him.

"Hey Monika." He tried again but this time a little louder.

Eliza, the operator he was hoping not to talk to turned around noticing Marius standing behind them.

"Oh… hi Marius." She said looking him up and down. He could tell she was already judging him.

"Yeah… hey… uhhh… I'm here to talk to Monika." He said sheepishly.

Eliza took a shot of whiskey she had in her hand. She paused and exhaled as she endured the burning taste in the back of her throat. She turned to Monika and gave her a nudge.

Monika turned around and saw Marius.

"Hey Marius!" She said and gave him a hug. Marius flinched not liking the person to person contact.

"Hey Monika." He said prying himself free of her grip. The stench of alcohol radiated off her.

The two awkwardly stared at each other. Marius was dumb struck for words. Monika stared back smiling waiting for something to happen. Eliza stood between the two of them looking back and forth at each of them waiting for something to happen. At the bar, Dominic and Elias were silently dying of laughter as they watched their fellow comrade embarrass himself in front of the girls.

"Welp… bye." Marius said with stupid wave and turned around swiftly walking out of the bar. Eliza and Monika watched him leave looking confused.

Dominic and Elias laughed out loud making people stare at the commotion.

Monika looked down toward the opposite end of the bar seeing Dominic and Elias. She looked back at Marius who was now running away back toward base.

She put two and two together.

"Did you guys put the poor baby up to this?" Monika yelled over to Elias and Dominic before joining in the laughter.

The Germans continued laughing.

"Where's my money?" Elias said trying to catch his breath and holding out his hand expecting payment.

"I'm dead Elias! I don't have any money!"

Elias stopped laughing and stared at his friend blinking.

"Oh, shit that's right."

The two Germans laughed again and clinked their beer bottles together drank to that.

Taina chuckled uneasily not enjoying their dark humor.

Dominic settled down and finished his beer. He held the empty glass in his hands rolling it around in his fingertips.

A moment of silence fell between the operators.

"I miss you brother. Things haven't been the same." Elias said.

"Yeah…" Dominic managed not looking his friend in the eye.

Dominic and Elias got out of their stools and embraced.

"Let's do this again sometime." Elias said in his friends shoulder.

"Yeah… definitely." Dominic muttered.

The two friends separated. Dominic turned to Taina.

"See ya later spooky woman." He said winking at her.

Taina punched him in the arm.

"Yeah, see ya asshole."

They embraced.

Dominic was about to walk out of the bar when Monika stood in front of him blocking his path.

"Forgetting someone?" Monika said with arms crossed arching an eyebrow.

"How could I forget."

Dominic and Monika hugged. Monika held on to him tightly.

"Stay safe. Keep these dunkoffs in check, will you?" Dominic whispered to her.

Monika couldn't help but giggle.

"I will."

They separated. Dominic looked back at his friends one last time before walking out the door. His friends watched him leave with sadness in their eyes. Dominic let out a sigh. He stuffed his hands in the pockets and looked up at the stars above him in the cool night time air. England finally had a clear during the rainy season which was relief for the town folk. He walked across the city street. Hereford's night life buzzed around him as young people walked about the cobblestone streets enjoying the break in the weather. The GSG 9 operators watched from the bar as Dominic's image slowly evaporated into thin air as walked further away from them until he vanished completely.

Eliza came up behind Monika wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

"Monika, come back to the bar and have a drink."

Monika looked down at her feet.

"Nah I'm gonna go home."

"Are you sure? Are you okay?" She asked looking concerned for her friend.

"Yeah I'm good. I'm going to go find Marius. He looked upset." She said and removed Eliza's arm from her shoulder. She walked out of the bar alone back to base. She walked inside her dormitories and climbed the flight of stairs to her floor.

The stairs opened into a common living area. Some operators were sprawled out on couches and recliners watching something on TV. She stealthily walked past them toward her wing where her room was. She noticed Marius's door was open slightly. She peaked inside and noticed his dorm was empty. Some stuff had been tossed around on the floor of his room.

It wasn't like him to leave a mess. She noticed his kit that he usually kept in the corner of his room was missing. Monika smiled and quickly rushed to her room. She gathered her kit that she kept on her desk and walked out of the dorms.

In the center of the base was a large 4 story warehouse used for training. The front doors were open. She could hear someone firing a weapon inside. Monika took a magazine loaded with simulation paint rounds from her black polizei vest and loaded it into her AUG. She pulled her balaclava up over her head, placed her helmet on her head and walked inside. She followed the sound of running footsteps shooting. When she reached the second floor she took cover behind a concrete wall.

"Mariiiiiussss!" She called out to him.

Marius shot his head up when he heard Monika call his name. Monika could see the top of a black aviator helmet through one of the door ways. She slowly peaked out from behind the wall aiming for his head through her holographic sight.

"WHAT? WHAT DO YOU WANT?" He shouted from one of the rooms.

"15 seconds left!" She yelled trying to impersonate their training announcers voice.

"What are you playing at Monika?" He asked sounding annoyed.

"10 seconds left!" She yelled.

"Monika…"

"5 seconds left!"

"Op for last operator standing! Friendly last operator standing! Secure the container!" She shouted and fired at Marius.

Marius saw a glimpse of Monika before she fired and ducked behind a crate.

"JESUS CHRIST MONIKA!" He shrieked. The paint simulated rounds buzzed over his head impacting the wall behind him. He could hear her sprinting up to his position. Marius aimed his 416 over the crate but couldn't see Monika because of a wall obstructing his view.

"I almost got you." Monika's voice echoed through the building. Marius could tell she was nearby.

"Almost." Marius replied mockingly.

He crouched back behind the crate and dropped his 416. He pulled out his side arm and closed his eyes. Marius slowly stood up and aimed his pistol at the doorway leading to the room he was in. He knew that doorway wasn't Monika's only way inside. She could make a new door anywhere on the wall with breaching charges and take him out.

He kept his eyes closed letting his superiorly intelligent mind focus on the details of her voice.

"I have you cornered Marius. What are you going to do?" Monika called out.

"I'm going to win this round and then you're going to give me your number as my reward for winning." He said confidently.

Monika was taken off guard by the usually shy and timid operator's sudden surge of confidence. She grinned at his new change in attitude. She knew she was in a strong position to win the gunfight.

Or so she thought.

"Go on. Make it happen." She coaxed.

Marius's mind zeroed in on the location of Monika's voice on the other side of the soft wall in front of him after she spoke.

He took a breath to relax himself.

He swiftly turned and fired a single shot with his pistol. The simulation paint round splatted harmlessly against the wall in front of him.

He opened his eyes and smiled beneath his balaclava.

"I win." He sneered.

He dropped his pistol and walked over to the paint splatter on the soft wall. He balled his gloved fist and with brute force punched a hole in the wall where the splatter was.

His arm went through the dry wall.

He tried to pull his arm out of the wall, but it was stuck. He tried again with more strength but couldn't pull it out. Marius sighed at his clumsiness.

" _Nice one Marius."_ His conscience said.

On the other side of the wall, Marius's fist was just centimeters away from Monika's icy blue eyes. She stared down the knuckles of Marius's fist in disbelief at the level of skill he had displayed to take her out.

If the two operators were using real ammunition instead of paint rounds, the bullet would have penetrated the wall hitting Monika directly in the eye which would've killed her instantly.

Only a true master of inflicting violence could have made a shot so precise while completely blind just exclusively based off sound.

"A little help?" Marius asked innocently from the other side of the wall.

Marius felt his glove being removed from his hand. He felt Monika open his hand and poke his palm with a somewhat sharp object. The pointy object moved swiftly around the surface of his palm.

"Have a good night Marius." Monika said and picked up her gear.

"But what about me?" He pleaded.

"You'll figure it out Marius. You always do."

Marius listened to Monika's footstep echo as she left the building leaving him all alone. He planted his feet on the soft wall and pulled his arm as hard as he could. His arm flew out of the wall sending him crashing to the floor. He laid on his back on the cold concrete floor staring up at the dim ceiling lights. He moved his ungloved hand in front of his face to inspect his palm.

On his palm was a phone number written crudely in pen.

It was Monika's phone number.

Marius stared at his hand silently indulging in his personal victory. The building was so quiet, you could hear the air moving through the empty corridors and water droplets hitting the floor.

"WOOOOOOOOOO! YES! DOMINIC, I GOT HER NUMBER! EAT IT ELIAS! WOO HOOOOO!" He screamed and laughed.

As Monika walked out the front door of the training building she paused to hear Marius cheering like an idiot from inside. She couldn't help but laugh to herself. She looked up at the night sky as if someone was watching her from above.

"Why did you have to put Marius up to this?" She asked smiling.

Dominic watched from up above practically suffocating from laughing so hard.


	3. Chapter 2

**Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies**

 **Chapter 2**

 **The Upper West Side: Day 1**

"Jager?"

…

"Jager."

…

"Specialist Streicher? You there?"

Marius snapped out of his daydream.

"Yeah. I'm here what's up?"

"Six is requesting us back to the FOB."

"Copy that."

Marius looked down at the upper west side. The section of London was deteriorating rapidly. The London fog began to glow a soft orange as buildings began to catch fire. Marius prayed he'd live to see Monika again and hoped his teammates were okay down there

…

"MAVERICK! CLASH! ZOFIA! GET IN THE BUILDING NOW!" Ash screamed as she pulled out her grenade launcher.  
She fired a breaching charge into the mass of red outlined silhouettes rushing toward them thanks to Lion's drone. The charge exploded sending bodies rag dolling through the air. Their red outlines disappeared when they hit the ground. More outlines took their place.

The surviving operators of Grim Sky filed into a three-story brick tax payer building. The bottom floor appeared to be a restaurant of some sort. The operators established a perimeter in the building and began to hold off the incoming attack.

Maverick jumped through a broken window and pointed at Finka.

"Finka! I want the PKM right here!" He commanded.

Lera set up bipod on her LMG at the front window creating a machine gun nest and fired away into the fog at the enemies running straight for them. Lion, Zofia, Maverick and the surviving Royal Marines joined her in stalemating the charging enemies. Eventually the enemies turned and wisely retreated back into the fog. The street grew eerily quiet.

Ash crouched behind a store counter and keyed up on her radio.

"Six this is Ash."

"Ash send your traffic." Six's voice came up.

"Six, our intel was correct. It's the infected from New Mexico and they have us cut off. Do you copy? We are cut off. Copy? I repeat we are cut off. We are cut off." Ash rambled nervously into the radio.

There was a blood curdling scream from the city streets as roaches began to charge the store front again. Zofia rolled over began to empty her light machine gun. The other operators soon joined in.

"ASH!" Zofia screamed. "ASH! HELP! WE GOT MORE COMING!"

Ash looked up from behind the counter to see another wave of roaches charging at their positions. The operators reloaded their weapons ready to fend off the siege. Ash hurtled over the counter and joined the line. She pulled her radio back out.

"THEY'RE COMING RIGHT AT US! THEY'RE COMING RIGHT AT US! REQUESTING ARTILLERY, MORTARS, OR ANY KIND OF AIR SUPPORT THAT'S AVAILABLE TO MY COORDINATES, NINER THREE THREE ZERO…."

There was the sound of air displacement in the sky followed by deafening explosions from artillery shells landing in the street area in front of the operators. She watched bodies and body parts go shooting up into the air as fireballs. There were more whistles and groans from the heavens above as more shells began to land in an explosive display of dominance, however, the artillery volleys were landing too far behind the roach's lines, so it didn't have much effect.

The roaches continued their charge without hesitation as they began to penetrate Grim Sky's perimeter.

"BRING IT IN CLOSER! DIAL IT IN 100 MORE SIR!" Ash screamed in a panic over the radio as the sounds of the battle roared in the background.

The artillery team obeyed her commands. Eliza watched shells slowly begin to inch their way closer to their position trying to create a protective shield around them to repel their relentless enemies, but it still wasn't enough. One or two roaches broke their lines and began to attack the Royal Marines, but Clash sprang into action using a combination of her shield and pistol to take down the attackers.

"THEY'RE RIGHT ON TOP OF SIR! BRING IT IN CLOSE! BRING IT IN NICE AND CLOSE!" Ash continued to shriek into the radio.

The explosions from the artillery fire began to pick up with intensity as the shells landed about 10 yards in front of the operators. It was so close that they could feel the shockwave vibrate in their skeletons and heat from the blasts one their faces. Debris and hot shrapnel rained down on them. Incoming roaches were incinerated from their protective shield. The operators continued to empty magazine after magazine on their enemies.

"YOU'RE DIALED IN! FIRE FOR EFFECT! FIRE EFFECT!" Ash yelled.

Six lowered the volume on the radio. Ash's panicking screams for help on the radio made her want to vomit. She let out a sigh and rubbed her eyes. For the first time ever, she wasn't sure what to do. It would be suicide to send a team in to rescue Ash's unit.

She needed a plan.

"Six." A voice said from behind her.

She turned around in her seat to see the four original Spetsnaz operators of team Rainbow, Timur "Glaz" Glazkov, Alexsandr "Tachanka" Senaviev, Shurat "Fuze" Kessikbayev, and their leader, Maxim "Kapkan" Basuda in full kit standing before her.

"Yes Maxim."

"Was that Ash on the radio?"

"That's correct."

"How are they?"

Six didn't answer at first.

"Fine." She lied.

"Don't bullshit me Six. After the shit show I just heard, it sounds like you got them stuck in a quagmire."

"Why are you here Maxim?" Six said growing impatient with the Russian.

"I'm requesting you send us in. We can get them out."

"Negative." Six said firmly.

"Why?"  
"Because I already have one fucking team stuck in the zone. I don't need to add second."

"But…

"Not buts. You will follow my orders. Are we clear?"

"This is ridiculous Six. Absolutely ridiculous. We can get them out. Trust us." Maxim said taking steps toward Six.

Alexsandr reached out and grabbed Maxim by the shoulder reeling him in.

"Patience Maxim. We'll get our opportunity." The old man said trying to calm him.

Maxim took a breath.

"Six, just know… those things…" He paused reminiscing on the time he was deployed to New Mexico the first time he fought the parasite.

"…those things… they'll eat them alive out there. You have no idea what you're dealing with. I've seen what they're capable of. They probably won't survive the night."

"Noted." Six said and turned back to the radio.

 **Author's Note:**

This was a short chapter and I apologize. University has been pretty busy for me right now so its hard for me to find time to write. I'll have more coming ASAP. Thanks for reading and as always I'll see you in the next chapter!


	4. Chapter 3

**Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Familiar Voices**

After hours and what seemed like the artillery strikes would never end, the city streets of the upper west side of London grew silent. Grim Sky hunkered down in their apartment complex waiting patiently for when attack again but that information was unknown to them. The operators laid crouched behind the front wall of the building waiting as the sun set behind the London skyline turning reducing the operator's already poor visibility from the fog and storms to no visibility at all.

"What do you mean you can't get an extraction team down here?" Ash hissed into the radio. Her voice sounded horse and raspy from yelling out artillery coordinates all day.

"Area is too hot for extraction we can't risk losing any more air support until more help arrives." Six's voice came from the radio.

The four surviving operators stared at her with defeated faces feeling the impending doom of the situation.

"Copy." Ash said and put the radio down.

"So, I guess we're fucked down here huh?" Olivier said throwing her hands in the air in annoyance.

Ash took off her glasses and wiped them with the shirt of her uniform.

"We have ammo, right?" She asked checking the lenses.

"We're running low." Olivier said.

"And we're all still alive, right?"

"Yeah."

Ash put her glasses back on top of her head. Her bright green had dark circles beneath them. Her tan skin was white as paper.

"Then I'd say we're not 'fucked,' just yet." Ash sneered and walked away.

The operators sat at their posts staring at their leader in silence.

"Keep the perimeter established. Stay frosty." Finka said and returned to her LMG. Lion crouched next to her behind some rubble and played with his drone scanner. Clash stood by the front door with her shield ready to slow down another charge. Ash walked over to Zofia, who was lying in a pile of rubble with her LMG. She was organizing her belts of ammo checking how much she had left.

Zofia stopped what she was doing when she noticed Ash lay down next to her.

"You're not here to yell at me, now are you?" She asked.

Ash rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling. Water dripped through the cracks in the ceiling landing on random parts of her body. The water was cold as ice.

"No. I'm not here to yell. Just help maintain the perimeter."

Zofia went back to her task of counting her rounds.

Ash felt herself slowly drifting off to sleep. She cradled her R4-C in her arms as if it were a stuffed animal. The ceiling began to spin as she felt her eye lids getting heavy.

She felt someone jab her in the should snapping her out of her trance.

"Hey? Are you falling asleep on me?" Zofia whispered.

"Sorry." She said and looked out to the city streets. Everything felt hopeless. Surrounded and cut off from the world. The roaches had been relentless, and she still couldn't see anything. If the roaches wanted to attack, now would be the perfect time and Lion has only one more scan before his drone dies so they wouldn't see the attack coming until its too late.

Once again, Ash felt her eyes getting heavy and soon enough, she was in a deep sleep. She let the sound of the rain storm carry her thoughts away to a better place. Or so she thought.

Ash awoke in a dark cold place made of stone. There were metal bars around her as if she were in a prison cell. She could hear echoes from water dripping from the ceiling of the cavern.

She recognized the place. It was the prison cells back in Hereford where her team was held hostage by the UN. The place gave her chills. The stories of what the operators had endured while living in the cells were horrific. Ash was lucky enough to escape before being captured but living through the entire scenario and the thought of how lucky she was to be alive gave her the creeps.

On the opposite side of her prison cell, she could see a figure creeping toward her. The figure stepped out of the shadows staring down at her.  
The figure was a small petite female. Her skin was pale and diaphoretic. Her hair was short and green. Her body had a gaping chest wound and her face looked bloodied and beaten.

"Hello." She said with a heavy Polish accent.

"Ela?" Ash questioned cautiously.

"That's my name. Don't wear it out." Ela said sheepishly.

"Oh my… Ela…you're hurt …" Ash tried to speak.

Ela looked down at her wounds and shrugged.

"I know, I know." She said.

Ash felt for her star of David chain around her neck. She caressed the religious symbol in her finger tips. She tried desperately to wrap her head around what she was seeing. She was unsure if this was a true act of God's will or if her eyes were just playing tricks on her.

"Ela. What is this? What's going on? You're supposed to be dead." Ash asked.

"I am very much dead Eliza thank you very much." Ela responded bitterly.

"Then how am I talking to you?"

"Through my will to show myself to you."

Ash recoiled back at the statement taking in the information.

"So is this the kingdom of God or…"

"No actually. This is purgatory." Ela cut her off.

Ash felt a pit in her stomach. She always thought of herself as a devote member to the Jewish faith. She never thought once that should would travel to hell.

"What do you mean we're in hell?!" Ash shrieked.

"Hold your horses Eliza, let me explain. You're only visiting. I'm the one stuck here. Apparently driving your own father to suicide and what not is mortal sin, but that's just details."

"I always pictured hell being, a little more fiery and what not. Not cold and damp."

"Well this isn't legitimately hell. This is representation of hell through your thoughts and experiences. In this case, Hereford Base Prison. Apparently, the whole deal with the UN hold up and Overlord was enough to really screw you up in the head to the point where Hereford Prison is your worst nightmare."

Hearing Ela say the word Overlord gave Ash chills.

"So why have you decided to show yourself to me?"

"It's about Zofia. I need you to do one thing for me. Keep a close eye on her for me. Please."

"Of course I'm going to watch out for her. She's a member of my squad."

"No Eliza, like really keep an eye out on her…" Ela emphasized.

Ash gave her dead teammate a perplexed look.

"Why so much emphasis?" She asked.

Ela's head twitched every so slightly. Her eyes darkened.

" _You'll know soon enough."_ Ela said. But it wasn't her voice. It was someone else's voice. The voice of a man. An evil man. The voice had familiar iciness to it, but Ash couldn't put her finger on it.

"You good?" Ash asked.

Ela's head twitched again. Her facial expression lightened.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

Her voice sounded normal again.

"Ela, everyone misses you. You know that right?"

Ela didn't respond. She looked away from Eliza.

"We made a beautiful memorial at the base. We buried you next to Meghan. I try to switch out the flowers whenever I can. I've tried talking to you and praying to you. I'm not sure if you can…"

"Eliza stop." Ela cut her off angrily.

Listening to the aftermath of her own death always made her sick. She hated hearing about it. And she's heard Eliza try and talk to her through prayer. She just didn't care enough to answer her.

"Eliza it's time for you to wake up." Ela said.

Ela's face began to change. Her skin began to turn wrinkly and grey. Spikes began to protrude from her back as she began to take on a look of one of the roaches in London. Ash tried to run away but the prison bars kept her in. She turned around to see Ela inches from her face now as an infected form. Her eyes glowing orange.

"WAKE UP ELIZA!" Ela screamed in a morphed voice and swung with a spiked arm for her face.

 **Author's Note:**

To my peeps who've read Rainbow Six Siege: Undercover, doesn't that italicized quote Ela says look familiar? To the people who haven't read R6S: Undercover, read it before continuing. You're missing out.


	5. Note from the author

Author's note:

New chapter is in the works, so the story shall continue. Sorry for the wait peeps. Engineer majoring plus working sucks. Love you all! (:


	6. Chapter 4

**Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Shattered Skies**

"ELIZA! ELIZA! WAKE UP LOVE!" A Slavic accented voice shouted.

Eliza thrashed out of her deep slumber in a panic. Her black Oakley sunglasses half off her face. Her braid a knotted mess. She could cold sweat running down her spine as she instinctively reached for her R4-C. Before she could point her weapon, she felt a strong grip on her wrist. It was Zofia Bosak.

"Woah, woah, woah no need to shoot me now. It's just me." She said keeping Eliza's wrist pinned down.

Eliza took a breath trying to relieve the tension in her body.

Zofia pushed her glasses onto her forehead to get a better look at her friend. She looked like hell.

"Unfuck yourself. Roaches are regrouping. We need you on the line sleeping beauty." Zofia said with a commanding tone and reached out her hand. Eliza took her hand was lifted up by Zofia's superior strength. Eliza rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes and looked at the landscape around her. The downpour of rain from earlier had slowed down to a steady pour but their visibility was still poor. A cold breeze slipped between the opening in their building making Eliza shiver in her water-logged kit and thin material clothes. The chatter of gunfire echoed off the surrounding buildings as allied forced tried their best to save what's left of London from the parasite. Eliza felt a twinge of guilt for falling asleep on the line. Such a stunt could have compromised the entire mission and her squad. It also made her look weak.

"Falling asleep on the line? Not something we see from you very often." A female voice said from behind Eliza. Eliza frustratedly shook her head at the voice's words. She turned around to see Meghan Castellano with a look of disproval on her face.

"If we could save the ass chapping for later that'd be much appreciated." Eliza fired back at her.

"Hey, I'm dead so you don't have to listen to me." Meghan said raising her hands as if she were surrendering to Eliza's frustration.

Eliza rolled her eyes and jogged to the front line. She crouched next to Maverick and Zofia. Finka and Zofia were dug in on the either side of the front door with their light machine guns turning their little shelter into a makeshift machine gun nest. Lion and Maverick spread out their machine gun ammo around them, so they could rapidly reload once their belts were empty. Clash was barricaded by the front door ready to keep their enemy at bay with her riot shield.

"What do we got?" Eliza asked looking out toward the empty street in front of her.

"Streets have been quiet for about an hour but now we're starting hear voices and movement. I think the roaches are going to try another go at us." Zofia said in a low voice.

"Okay. Let the artillery barrage do its job. Don't fire until they're close. Do your best to conserve whatever ammo you have left."

"Understood."

Eliza turned her attention to Finka and Lion.

"Olivier! Lera!" She hissed at them.

The CBRN operators turned their heads toward Eliza. They had bags under the eyes from keeping watch. It made Eliza feel even more guilty for dozing off.

"Conserve your ammo. Let the artillery do the work." Eliza said spreading the word to them.

They gave her a thumbs up and returned their attention to the street.

Eliza turned to Clash who was standing behind her shield by the front door.

"Morowa! Hold your ground and do not let them break our lines."

Morowa gave her a confident nod of approval.

Eliza could hear footsteps on pavement. She couldn't tell how many roaches were approaching but it sounded like a fairly large group.

Meghan crouched next to Eliza. Her face showed worry.

"I don't know about you, but I feel a disturbance. Something is terribly wrong." Meghan said staring out at the kill zone beyond their shelter.

"Don't get your panties in a wad we're going to be find." Eliza growled as she fiddled with her combat vest pulling out her radio. She hated when people acted negatively toward her. Especially when she's the one in charge on the battlefield.

"How many times have Six and I warned you about that over confident attitude?" Meghan asked glaring at Eliza. Eliza could feel her dead teammate's glare pierce her heart like a knife giving her a cold sensation. A sensation like she was dying inside. Eliza flinched at the sensation.

"Please get out of my head Meghan. I could really care less about your opinion at the moment." Eliza commanded as she twisted the knob on top of the radio to power it on, but nothing happened. Frustrated, Eliza began to troubleshoot what was wrong with it. She was short for time. She needed her comms working.

"You're acting a lot like how Ela used to act. Over confident." Meghan chimed.

Eliza rolled her eyes at her comment.

"And your point is?" Eliza asked with hostility. She didn't have time to reminisce on dead teammates. There's a time and place for that and it wasn't here.

"Ela's dead. So be careful not to end up like her since you want to act like her."

"FUCK!" Eliza screamed with impatience and smacked the side of the radio with her glove hand. She wasn't sure if her rage was from Meghan's words or the broken radio. The blow to the side of the radio seemed to be what it needed to start working because it began to hum to life.

"Where did you learn to fix your electronics like that? The Russians?" Morowa said from behind her shield. Lera gave Morowa the middle finger while continuing to keep her eyes trained at the landscape in front her. Morowa couldn't help but chuckle at the gesture.

"Six this is Grim Sky, how do you copy." Eliza keyed on up her radio.

"Loud and clear. Send your traffic." Six's voice chattered to life through her comms.

"Requesting a patch on your inner ops for artillery barrage on my pre-sited coordinates."

"Copy that Grim Sky patching you through now."

Eliza waited patiently as she was patched through to the artillery teams. She glanced over her shoulder to where Meghan was. Her image had disappeared without a trace that she was even there to begin with. Eliza blinked a couple of time contemplating her sanity then returned her focus back to the mission.

The sound of footsteps in the distance began to pick up with intensity. She could hear the roaches yelling as they approached their position. The operators of Grim Sky turned to Ash with nervous looks.

"Hold your fire." She commanded squad.

Silhouettes began to break through the fog.

The group was massive.

The operators raised their weapons at their charging enemies. The operators on the line fidgeted nervously in their spots doing their best to keep their composure.

Finka's finger itched on the trigger to her PKM light machine gun.

"Come on Eliza, what the fuck are you doing?" Olivier muttered. Lera gave Olivier a nervous glance.

"Grim Sky this is Six. Request for artillery has been denied."

She felt a pit in her stomach as she looked up to see the army of roaches rushing their position. Eliza struggled to make words.

"Ummm…. uhhhhh….. Six, say again, did you say my request for artillery has been denied?" She said nervously.

"That's correct. All teams are used up right now providing support for other units in the city and air support is backed up because of the storm. Stand by; I'm doing what I can."

Eliza lowered the radio from her face. She stood looking at her team and the chaos before her with a thousand-mile stare.

" _We're screwed."_ Her conscience said.

"Copy." Eliza said defeated and lowered the radio once again. The operators saw the look on her face and understood the situation. No help would be coming.

"Fuck this. I can't wait any longer." Finka called out impatiently. She pulled back on the charging handle of the PKM chambering a round and began to mow down roaches in the open. Zofia soon joined in with her LMG. Their tracer rounds lighting up the night sky like Christmas. Lion and Maverick soon joined in the shooting. Ash stood watching helplessly as more and more Roaches took the places of the dead ones. It was as if they multiplied with each one killed.

"God damn it." Ash whispered to herself.

Ash let the radio slip out of her finger falling into the mud. She pulled her grenade launcher, chambered a breaching round, and joined her team in the firefight. While the team showed fire superiority, it wasn't enough to hold off the attack.

Roaches began to hop in through the windows making Clash have to sprint back and forth between different firing position to keep the enemy at bay with her riot shield.

The barrels of Finka and Zofia's LMGs burned bright red with heat turning the unforgiving rain to steam instantly with its touch. Finka depleted the remaining rounds on the belt she was using. Once she was finished with the belt, she opened the top of the machine gun, and pulled out the empty belt. She turned to Lion who was right next to her with a new belt ready to go. Finka and Lion's eyes met for a brief moment. He looked scared.

"Last one, make it count." He said.

Finka took in a shaky breath and nodded to her teammate. Lion gave her a pat on the shoulder and returned to picking off targets with his rifle.

" _Welp, this is it."_ Finka thought to herself. She began to unload her last remaining rounds into the enemy.

Maverick released the catch on his M4. As the empty magazine clattered to the floor Maverick reached to his vest for a fresh mag. But his pouches were empty. That was his last mag. Maverick threw down his rifle and switched to his pistol and continued to work.

" _If I'm going to die, at least let it be in a pile of brass and my enemies laying dead before me."_ He said in his mind as he continued fighting.

Zofia slid her last belt of ammunition into her LMG. She cocked the charging handle and began to fire. While she fought, she began to think about her family knowing that these probably her last moments alive. She thought of everything she was about to leave behind.

"Don't be afraid." A gentle voice whispered to her.

She glanced to see it was her sister Ela. A tear began to trickle down Zofia's cheek from beneath her sunglasses. For the first time ever, Zofia was scared in combat. She didn't want to die but she knew there nothing else she could do. She was happy she could live her last moments with the sister she had killed years ago.

"Does it hurt?" Zofia blurted. She couldn't contain her nervousness. Thoughts of death raced through her head.

"You'll know soon enough." Ela said. But it wasn't in her normal friendly voice. It was in a man's voice. And it sounded of pure evil. It took Zofia off guard.

Ash spent her last M1911 clip on a roach. She was completely out of ammo. Another roach tried to run through the front door but was met by Clash and her riot shield, but more roaches joined in the push through the front door. Clash's taser on her shield eventually gave out and the roaches flooded the main floor. The operators pulled knives and went to hand to hand combat fighting for their lives.

Ash ran back toward the radio that she dropped on the ground. She could hear voices on the radio.

"Say again?!" She shouted into the radio. She ducked under a roach's fist and kicked it away from her.

She began to hear soft booms in the distance.

The sound of artillery fire.

The city street in front of their shelter began to erupt in explosions sending bodies flying in all directions. The roaches began to scatter and run from the artillery. The barrage was an impressive display of firepower. Larger then the barrages they had seen earlier. The explosions from the landing shells crept their way slowly toward their building. The operators watched their enemies flee for their lives. Finka and Lion exchanged a hug. Maverick laughed watching the explosive massacre taking place before him. Zofia turn to look at her sister Ela who had not left her side. She smiled at her sister. She was going to live after all.

But something was off about Ela. Her look was icy and serious.

"Six this is Grim…" Ash's sentence was cut off by a high-pitched whistle followed by a whoosh of hot air. Ash looked up in time to see an artillery shell land straight into their shelter embedding itself into the ground. The operators stood frozen for what seemed like a millisecond staring at each other in shock.

The artillery had over shot its mark when walking their barrage forward mistakenly hitting Grim Sky's position directly. A mistake that could be fatal.

The shell exploded ingulfing the room in a deadly fireball sending the operators flying in different directions.

Zofia's body flew across the room. Her entire body felt as if it were on fire. Shrapnel shredded her skin and uniform turning her body to swiss cheese. Her back smashed into a brick wall and crumpled to the ground. She rolled onto her back screaming in agony. She could smell burning flesh. Her own flesh was shredded and burnt from shrapnel to the point that she couldn't recognize her own body. Her abdomen poured blood like a water spout. She tried to cover it with her hands turning her leather gloves a sickly dark red. Her vision began to slowly fade as she listened to the gut-wrenching screams of her teammates that she couldn't see. She turned to her left side. She could see what looked like Ash lying motionless in the middle of the floor. Her body looking as if someone had tried to throw her into a wood chipper. Zofia desperately reached out her hand to her but she was too far away to even try and touch her. She began to hear rumbles and groans from the ceiling above her. The foundation of the building was collapsing. She desperately looked around for a way out, but she was paralyzed. She turned her head to another side and saw Ela standing over her staring at her with a smile. She knelt down next to her older sister.

"See you on the other side sis." She said coldly. She stood up and turned her back on Zofia exiting the building.

"NOOOOO! NOOOOOOO! HELP ME! HELP ME! ELAAAAAA!" Zofia shrieked but her younger sister ignored her pleas for help. Zofia looked back up to watch the ceiling come crashing down upon her.

 **Author's Note** :

Forgive me if this chapter was a little all over the place. But we're back! The story continues! Thank you everyone for your patience.


	7. Chapter 5

**Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Grim Skies Block the Rainbow**

The radio waves were filled with panic chatter as word spread of the friendly fire incident.

"Grim Sky this is Six do you copy?" Six tried.

"Grim Sky this is Six do you copy?" She tried again.

Six lowered her head when she realized she wasn't going to receive an answer.

"God damn it." She muttered to herself.

The soldiers in the command tent bustled around trying to sort what happened. Six had never felt so horrible in her entire life. She was beginning to realize that maybe rushing the artillery teams to readjust back to Grim Sky's location was a mistake.

The five Russian Spetsnaz operatives of Team Rainbow barged into the tent with looks of horror on their faces.

"Are the rumors true?" Shurat blurted out.

Six didn't speak. She stood over her desk staring blankly at the maps and notes spread out everywhere.

"Six?" Shurat tried again.

"What?" She snapped.

"Did we just hit our own operators with our own guns?"

Six took a long pause before answering thinking carefully how she was going to deliver the tragic news. The Russians waited impatiently for an answer.

"Yes. All airstrikes and artillery barrages taking place in that area have been halted." She said coldly.

The Russians operators felt a wave of mixed emotions. They began to mutter to each other in Russian. They cursed the British and Six for not sending them in. They felt the situation could've been avoided.

"Do we have any indication that anyone survived the blast?" Maxim asked.

Six winced at the question.

"No."

Maxim cursed loudly in Russian. Shurat threw his hands in the air in anger. Glaz stood in silence in the back of the tent with his head low.

"Easy Maxim. Relax." Alexandr said placing an arm on Maxim's shoulder.

"Do we have a rescue mission in the works? Please tell me we have some sort of plan to help them?" Maxim asked theatrically.

Six shook her head.

"There is no rescue plan Max! Think about the situation! From the information we gathered while Grim Sky was doing recon, we confirmed that our intel was correct. We were able to confirm that the north western section of the city is most likely where the hive is located. I'm not sending anyone into the heart of a dark zone on a recovery mission. It's a waste of life." Six said with a frustrated tone.

"But how do you know it's a recovery? I mean you're only guessing. We have to at least try and confirm things ourselves. What if someone is still alive down there? They're probably alone, scared, and slowly dying. And we're just sitting here on our asses giving up on them when we could've been saving them." Maxim tried to reason with her.

Six raised her voice now in anger.

"DO YOU NOT USE YOUR HEAD MAXIM? THAT WAS A 155MM HIGH EXPLOSIVE ARTILLERY SHELL LANDING RIGHT ON TOP OF THEM! NOBODY COULD HAVE SURVIVED THAT! NOBODY!"

Maxim walked briskly up to Six so he was inches away from pointing a finger in her face.

"AND YOU'RE JUST GONNA GIVE UP ON THEM? HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A BATTLEFIELD BEFORE? I'VE WITNESSED MIRACLES IN COMBAT SIX! IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME! WE HAVE TO GIVE THEM CHANCE! THEY'D DO THE SAME FOR US!"

Alexandr tried to pull Maxim away but Maxim shoved him back. Timur continued to stand in the back of the room with his head down not saying a word. He listened carefully to what was unfolding before him.

"Six, send my squad down there. Please. We'll make it quick. I promise." Maxim said almost begging.

"Six, don't forget that one of those operators that was just hit by British artillery fire is a member of the Russian Spetsnaz. If you're not going to send us in to retrieve the body, then it'll be our government that does and there will be repercussions for both of us if it comes to that. You and I both know that leaving someone behind, especially a fellow Spetsnaz operative, is not an option for us. Sitting here delaying the inevitable is only making matters worse." Shurat added.

Six looked at the four Russian operative's dead in the eyes.

"For the last time; no. Your government's threats to me are the least of my worries right now. Now stand down and get back on the perimeter." Six demanded.

Maxim stood before his superior defeated. Two British soldiers walked up to Maxim.

"Sir, please don't make us forcefully remove you." The one soldier said respectfully.

Maxim stood his ground in a staring match with Six.

As fast a lightning, Maxim threw punches at both the guards knocking them out. He drew his PMM pistol aiming it at Six's head.

Shurat reacted to Maxim's actions and joined in taking down two other guards in the room. He pointed his rifle at anybody else who wanted to mess with the Russians. Glaz continued to stand in the back of the tent unenthused by what was happening before him. Alexandr discretely closed the entrance to the tent and drew his SMG aiming it at the British.

The British and Russians stood in an epic standoff. Waiting for someone to make the first move. Six stared down the barrel of Maxim's pistol feeling butterflies in her stomach. Maxim's eyes looked full of pure anger.

"Do you have any idea what you think you're doing?" Six asked.

"To be honest, no. I never thought things would have to come to this."

"Go ahead Maxim. Pull the trigger. Put your money where your mouth is and do it." Six dared.

Maxim pulled back the hammer on his side arm pressing the weapon into Six's temple.

Shurat and Alexandr calmly held their ground moving their weapons back and forth to each guard in the tent.

"No. Six, you're going to listen to me very carefully. The storm is beginning to settle. My team and I are going to board a helicopter. That helicopter is going to fly us to Grim Sky's last known location. We will do an investigation, make sure there are no survivors, and then we're flying back. If the Brits try anything that affects us, stall them. Are we clear?" Maxim demanded.

Maxim heard footsteps walking behind him. He then felt the tap of a gun barrel behind his head.

"Maxim stand down before somebody makes a fatal mistake."

Timur, the voice of reason on team Rainbow stood behind Maxim, the leader of the Russians, with his pistol aimed at the back of Maxim's head.

"God damnit Timur." Shurat whispered as he adjusted his aim, now pointing his rifle at Timur in an attempt to defend Maxim.

Timur stood his ground unphased by Shurat's actions. Shurat cursed Timur's name under his breath in Russian and silently prayed he wouldn't have to shoot his fellow comrade. Alexandr continued to keep the British in check with his SMG.

"Glazkov? What the hell are you doing?" Maxim murmured to Timur in Russian not breaking eye contact with Six.

"One mistake made by either side in this tent could start another World War. That's not happening on my watch." Timur responded in Russian.

Maxim gnashed his teeth in anger.

"World War?! Timur I'm doing this to save our friends! Six is willing to let our friends die out there without us at least trying to save them."

"But it didn't have to come to this. You and I both know damn well they wouldn't want things to come to this for their namesake." Timur said but in English this time.

Six interrupted their conversation.

"Timur. Stand down. I'll yield to Maxim's demands. But understand that because there's no more known friendlies operating near the hive currently, the British government has ordered the air force to level that section of the city in an attempt to destroy the hive, so you won't have much time to play down there. I don't know how much stalling I can do. Also know if you get yourself into any sort of trouble while operating down there, nobody is coming to save you. When you return, don't bother coming back to me. Your team is expelled from Rainbow. No questions asked. I'll let your country handle the charges that will be pressed against all of you." Six said spitefully.

The Russians cautiously lowered their weapons except for the British guards.

"Fair enough. When are the British resuming bombardment?" Maxim asked.

"Tomorrow."

"So, we have a day?"

"That's correct. I'll try and stall the strikes, but I can't guarantee anything."

"Then it appears we're wasting valuable time now." Maxim turned to his teammates. "Get your kit. We have a job to do." He ordered.

The British kept their guns aimed at the Russians as they filed out of the tent.

Once Timur exited the tent, Maxim grabbed Six by the collar of her jacket and pulled her in close to their faces were inches away from each other. The British held their fire.

"You will uphold your part in this. If not, things are gonna get bloody between the two of us. Understand?" Maxim said in a sinister tone.

Six stared at him dead in the eyes not answering.

Maxim shoved Six back and left the tent catching up with the rest of his group.

"Are you okay ma'am?" One of the guards asked once the Russians were gone.

"Yes, I'm fine." Six said breathing a sigh of relief.

"Shall I inform the crown of Russia's mutiny against us?"

Six turned to her desk looking at the coordinates of Grim Sky's last known location.

"No. I'll inform them myself."

"Yes ma'am."

The Russians filed out of the tent leaving Six and the British alone. Once they were out of sight, Timur, who was finally a little more comfortable voicing his opinion from the reduction in crowd size, trudged over the muddy terrain and got in Maxim's face.

"Maxim, what just happened back there?" He hissed.

"That was me improvising. What the hell were you doing getting in my way like that?" He said continuing to walk to their tent.

"Improvising?! You call holding Six at gun point improvising? You almost started World War III in there!" Timur hissed.

"What was I supposed to do? Huh? Enlighten me please. I'm listening." Maxim demanded.

Timur fell silent. He hated being put on the spot.

"We got what we wanted didn't we?" Maxim said trying to reason with him.

The Russians reached their tent but paused outside of the entrance.

"Maxim, your anger blinds you. You may have gotten what you wanted but I don't think you understand how much trouble we are truly in."

Maxim shook his head in frustration.  
"Listen Timur, I don't have time to argue about this. If you don't want to go, then stay here. Now if you excuse me, I have friends to rescue."

"And remember before you go defending those assholes that those were British artillery guns that hit Finka, a fellow Russian. And now the Brits are treating her like cannon fodder to cover up their mistake? If that's the case, then a few dead Brits don't mean shit to me. You're lucky I didn't pull the trigger back in that tent." Shurat said fiercely.

And with that final statement, Maxim pushed Timur out of the way. Timur tripped and fell into the mud. Shurat and Alexandr stepped over Timur following Maxim into the tent. Timur sat in the mud contemplating his thoughts.

" _Maxim has no patience and neither does Shurat. Alexandr was somewhat level headed. But now because of them we're stuck in a quagmire. We're so screwed."_

Timur looked toward the Spetsnaz tent before him. He took a deep breath of fresh air.

" _But Rainbow doesn't leave people behind. Grim Sky needs us. Maybe, by some stroke of luck, somebody is still alive. Everybody deserves the chance to live, no matter what the cost may be in saving them."_

Timur struggled to his feet and walked into the tent. The four Russian operators prepared their kits in silence. The tension between the operators electrified the air.

Once their kit was ready to go, the Russians looked at maps of the region before launch and made an impromptu game plan. The helicopter would drop the team a half mile away from Grim Sky's last reported position. Maxim, Alexandr, and Shurat would proceed by foot down the streets toward the bombing site while Timur provided overwatch from the rooftops. Once their investigation was complete, they would fall back to where the helicopter had dropped them off and vacate the area. Hopefully with survivors.

The four men walked through the light drizzle of rain in their hazmat suits toward a helicopter waiting for them. The pilots sat in the front of the helicopter waiting. Maxim approached the pilot's seat.

"Marius. How are you?"

Marius opened the door to the chopper and shook hands with the Russian.

"Maxim! I am good! Is your team all set?" Marius asked.

"Yes, we're all set."

"Good."

Maxim noticed Marius's copilot, he looked young and scared as hell.

"And who is this Marius?" Maxim asked motioning toward the copilot.

"Oh, how rude of me, this is my copilot Lt. Edwards. He's a pilot of the Royal Airforce."

"Hello." The lieutenant said with a discrete wave.

Maxim gave Marius a worried look.

"He's new. It's all the British could spare at the moment." Marius whispered with a shrug.

"Don't crash again please." Maxim said patting Marius's shoulder and walking to the back of the aircraft.

"You guys just won't let that go." Marius grumbled to himself as he began to start up the helicopter.

The blades began to pick up speed slicing through the moist air. Soon the Russians were in the air looking out the doors toward the city of London, the rain lightly tapping the aircrafts fuselage. Nobody in the helicopter spoke a word to each other. Tension between everyone was still high. It was now dusk. The lights of the city shined brightly through the fog as it did for Grim Sky when they had deployed. Marius flew the chopper just above the buildings to avoid the turbulent air above. Fires raged within the buildings and in the streets below as the British army battled block for block, intersection by intersection with the parasite trying to keep it contained.

As Marius piloted his vessel, he thought about the mission and his friends. He was worried about what the Russians were going to find at the bombing site.

"Marius." A voice said from behind him.

Marius glanced behind him to see his old friend Dominic sitting in the jump seat. He couldn't help but smile seeing his old friend again.

"Dominic! What brings you out here?"

Dominic remained silent watching his friend pilot the helicopter. Within minutes they were approaching their landing zone.

"One minute till touchdown. Get ready." Marius said over comms.

The Russians checked their magazines, hazmat suits, and kit. Maxim and Timur met eyes for a second before turning their attention elsewhere. Shurat let his feet hang freely out of the open side door of the chopper. Alexandr sat in his seat tapping his foot as Finka usually did before an op. It was habit he had picked up after being together with her for so long and she was all he could think about since she went M.I.A.

Marius put the helicopter into a slow decent toward the illuminated city streets kicking up dust and debris. The section of the city they were landing in was beginning to turn to a pile of rubble from the amount artillery and air strikes that had been relentlessly pounding the area to keep Grim Sky operational.

Now, after the friendly fire incident, the artillery guns and planes were silent.

Marius put the helicopter into a slow hover just above the ground allowing the Russians to jump out. Once their boots touched the ground, they began to secure the landing site. Marius watched from the safety of the chopper keeping a look out for roaches. It appeared they were alone.

Maxim turned to Marius and gave him thumbs up that it was okay for him to leave.

"Marius what are you doing?" Dominic asked with a serious tone.

"Flying this helicopter." He stated.

"Your ass should be on the ground with the Russians not sitting cushy in here."

"But somebody has to fly this thing." Marius argued.  
"Marius…"

Marius turned to look at his friend. Dominic was in the kit he usual wore for operations.

"Get down there. Save your friends like they did for you back in New Mexico." He said intently.

Marius thought about the Dominic's orders. Flying the helicopter was his job. But also, Ash, Finka, and Lion went out of their way and risked their lives to save his. Now it was his turn to return the favor.

Marius caved into this dead friend's reasoning.

"Okay."

He let the chopper's landing gear touch the ground. His copilot looked at him confused as watched Marius swiftly unbuckle his seatbelt. He reached behind his seat grabbing his kit.

"What are you doing?" Lt. Edwards asked nervously.

Marius grabbed the lieutenant by the shoulders and lifted the blacked-out visor on his own helmet, so Lt. Edwards could see his eyes.

"Lieutenant, this is your ship now. Fly a perimeter around our position. Gauges look good. Weather should hold up for you. Stay in touch." He said and gave him a slap on the back.

"Wait what…"

Marius lowered his helmet visor and jumped out of the helicopter before his copilot could ask any more questions. Rotor wash drenched his green hoodie and jeans in mist as he exited. Marius began to sprint down the street toward the Russians who had already covered some distance from their landing zone. He turned around one last time toward his copilot who still had the chopper on the ground looking dumbfounded.

"You forget how to fly?! Go! Get out of here!" Marius shoed.

" _Jesus why am I taking advice from a dead guy. Either I'm going to die here or Six is going to kill me when I get back for pulling a stunt like this."_ He thought to himself as he waved off his copilot.

The copilot snapped out of his trance and lifted the helicopter into the air. He flew away leaving Marius alone in the street. The city streets were quiet enough to hear a pin drop giving the air an eerie vibe. Once the helicopter was out of sight Marius turned and continued running after the Russians who were now a ways down the street. As he ran, he heard footsteps behind him. He glanced to see his friend Dominic running right behind him. Dominic winked at him. Marius smiled beneath his balaclava. It felt like old times.

Jager, being one of the fastest operators in Rainbow quickly caught up to the Russians. Kapkan halted his squad and turned around surprised to see Jager.

"Jager? What are you doing?" Kapkan hissed.

"Helping you." Jager said bending over to catch his breath.

"Who's flying the chopper?"

"My copilot."

"Jesus Christ…" Kapkan said facepalming.

"Hey, the kid will do fine. You guys need me down here more then you need me up there." Jager said pointing toward the sky.

Kapkan looked down at his boots shaking his head.

"Well, looks like I have no choice then. Fall in line. We have our own people to save." He commanded.

"Lets just hope there's someone left to save." Tachanka said with a depressing tone.

Jager fell in line with the other three Russian Spetsnaz operatives. He couldn't see the operators faces beneath their masks and helmets, but he knew each of them were dealing with their own mix of emotions. Jager looked to his side to see Bandit walking alongside him. It wasn't like him to be so quiet. He could tell something was bothering him.

"You good?" Jager whispered to Bandit.

"Something is wrong. I feel a disturbance." He said sternly.

"A disturbance? What do you mean?"

"It's the other operators. Somethings wrong with them."

"Which operators?"

Bandit turned his head meeting Jager's eyes.

"The dead ones… somethings wrong with them."

Jager took a nervous gulp. He tightened his grip around his 416 as he turned his attention back to the road ahead with the light rain beating at his masked face. He could feel something too. A coldness from within.

 **Author's Note** :

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. This one is very personal to me. It's metaphor of a situation I experienced at work this year. Sorry it took so long to publish.


	8. Chapter 6

Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies

Chapter 6

The Armor of God

There was nothing.

The environment was pitch black.

The feeling of knowing you're conscious with eyes wide open but being unable to see began to build anxiety.

The full body paralysis only made things worse.

The air had no temperature to it.

There was nothing to taste.

Nothing could be felt.

It was a feeling of floating through empty space.

However, one of the five senses was working.

Sense of sound.

In the darkness was a low sounding hum. The hum was ambient and sounded like the inside of a passenger jet from the inside of the fuselage while at cruising speed.

The constant hum was broken by static from an unknown radio someplace. A low volume and distant voice followed, speaking slowly as if he had all the time in the world. The unknown voice was chilling.

"Bravo."

"N.P. zero six two six three four."

"Charlie."

"Ninety-degree grid."

"Hotel."

"Surface."

"Juliet."

"Ninety seconds."

"Kilo ten degrees."

"Romeo two point three centigrade…."

The voice was cut off by static. A young woman began to speak in the same tone as the man. Slow and in low volume. Nothing could be done except listen and continue to feel life slipping away.

"Be advised containment breach detected. Parasite predicted to be moving eastward from dark zone B, zero, five, six, seven, eight, zero. Anyone exposed is ordered to seek immediate medical attention…"

The voice was cut off by more static. A familiar voice briefly came on the radio.

"Grim Sky do you copy?"

" _SIX?!"_

"Grim Sky do you copy?"

" _YES, I HEAR YOU SIX!"_

There was moment of silence.

"Confirmed, no sign of Grim Sky. I repeat Grim Sky is M.I.A."

The radio went silent and never spoke again.

It was hopeless.

Everything was hopeless.

The hum continued to play as ambient noise in the darkness.

"A letter from St. Paul to the Ephesians."

" _No. Please, God, no."_

Eyelids moved over to blink obscuring all vision. Within that millisecond of time and image appeared.

The cemetery grounds were covered by several inches of snow.

Snowflakes danced with the wind.

The air was cold and still.

Zofia looked down at her black leather gloves and black coat.

The day was all too familiar to her. A day that was seared into her mind.

She sat front in center of a brown oak coffin shrouded in Polish flag. There were rows of people behind her consisting of the other operators and distant relatives she had never seen before.

Despite seeing them whispering to each other and crying, she could not hear their voices and cries. She could not hear the wind rustling the tree branches around her or the toll distant church bells.

But that damn ambient humming from the darkness continued to ring softly.

"A letter from St. Paul to the Ephesians." The voice said again. The voice belonged to the priest.

Zofia followed along whispering the priest's words to herself.

"Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." They said in unison. Every word was painful to her.

"Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."

The priest closed his bible. Two soldiers from the honor guard removed the Polish flag from the coffin and folded it with care into a triangle so only the white from the flag was exposed.

Once the flag was folded into a neat triangle, the honor guard cradled the flag like a child and walked over to Zo.

He then knelt before her, so his eyes were level with hers and presented her the folded flag.

Zofia's eyes wandered from the soldier's stern face to the folded flag in his white gloved hands.

She slowly reached for the flag but paused.

Her eyes made her way back up to the man kneeling before her, but it wasn't a man. It was Ela who was now kneeling before her with the flag dedicated to her own sacrifice in her hands.

Ela was wearing the dress blues that she was wearing inside the coffin.

Standing behind Ela was Meghan and Dominic who were also in their dress blues. Their faces solemn.

She didn't understand any of this. They were supposed to be dead. She didn't understand.

"You killed me." Ela whispered as she tried to hold back her anger. "I was making things right. I was correcting my life. For you. For my niece..." Ela's voice trailed off.

Zo felt tears in her eyes. Ela's eyes left Zofia's gaze looking down at the flag she was holding. The flag in her memory.

"I was going to be an aunt. It was the one and only thing I ever wanted." Ela's bright green eyes looked back into Zofia's eyes making her feel nauseous.

"But you took her away from me."

"Ela… I…"

"No." Ela cut her sister off. "You took the only thing I had left that kept me going. Now I'm going to take away something of yours. Your heart."

Zofia looked down at the folded Polish flag in Ela's hands. She reached for the flag but before she could take it, Ela let it slip from her hands.

The symbolic flag fell into the snow at Zofia's feet erupting a gasp from the crowd.

Zofia sat before her younger sister dumbfounded at her actions. At an utter loss for words.

"Ela. Stop this." A voice said from behind Ela.

Meghan took a step forward. Ela cracked a smile and stood to her feet.

" _Typical."_ Ela thought to herself.

"This is none of your business Meghan stay out of it." Ela responded coldly.

"You're going to rest in anger for the rest forever?"

Ela clenched her hands and took a sigh of frustration.

"You'll never understand any of this Meghan."

"It wasn't Zofia's fault for what happened…"

"Meghan. Please stop talking." Ela growled.

Meghan obeyed Ela's request.

The two friends stood in an awkward silence. Ela turned her back on Zofia and walked away from her own funeral bumping shoulders with Meghan on her way out. The desecrated flag left on the snowy ground.

Meghan and Zofia watched her leave.

Zofia looked down at the folded flag in the snow. Its sharp triangular shape was now messed up and wrinkled. Meghan knelt down in front of Zofia and picked up the flag. She brushed away the snow and dirt.

Once she was satisfied, she motioned for Zofia to take the flag from her.

"Take it. Do it for her. I know you still love her and somewhere deep down I know she still loves you." Meghan said gently.

Zofia reached out her hand and put it on Meghan's wrist pushing the flag away from her.

"I can't take it. She doesn't want me to have it. I can't accept something I am not worthy of." Zofia whispered.

Meghan slowly stood to her feet and held the flag close to her chest. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't keep it.

Eliza promptly got out of her seat from the back of the crowd and walked up the center aisle to Meghan. She gently took the flag from her grasp.

"I can take care of this until the things get sorted." Eliza said in a low voice and walked back to her seat with the flag. As Eliza walked back to her seat confused. She was confused as to who Zofia had been talking to. The only people she could see up front was Zofia, the priest, and the honor guard.

Zofia sat staring at her feet letting the rejection eat her alive. Ela's goal was to break her heart. She had succeeded. The thought of the rage one must feel to purposely desecrate a flag that was folded in their memory just to convey a message of hate toward a loved one made her want to end it all.

At this point, for the first time ever in her life, she had officially lost all control of her emotions.

Zofia sat in silence as the ambient hum began to increase to deafening volume. Her vision of the funeral began to fade into blackness.

She was ready to let go. She wanted to die. She felt her life wasn't worth living. How was she going to continue raising her family like this? She wasn't worthy of her own family members. What made her think she was worthy of the one she created? Death would be the only thing that brings her satisfaction.

She began to think about the days between Ela's funeral and whatever moment she was currently in now. She began to rewind back to the sleepless nights crying. Waking up from the nightmares in cold sweat. Poking herself with her knife to try and feel something through the numbness.

The nights she sat in her room alone with her loaded pistol in her hand.

It was so easy. Put the gun to your head and pull the trigger. Then all the pain and suffering will go away.

But she was a coward.

She didn't have the guts to kill herself.

It was something that existed in the back of her mind that made it difficult to perform the task. She couldn't put her finger on it.

The sound of rhythmic beating began to follow the hum.

" _Get up."_ Something said to her.

" _GET UP ZO!"_ It said again.

" _ZO, YOU HAVE TO GET UP!"_

There it was again. The small spot in the back of her mind.

Zofia began to gain feeling in her body. But along with regaining feeling came the immense amounts of pain. She was in trouble. She had to figure out where she was and find help quick. She grimaced through the pain and tried to lift and arm but was immediately met by a wall of rubble.

The rhythm of the beating began to increase in intensity. The hum growing louder.

" _Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."_ The priest's words echoed in her head.

She built up whatever strength she had left and let out a rebel scream. With all her might she punched upward.

Her fist penetrated the rubble barrier.

She began to feel cold water droplets on her fingers.


	9. Chapter 7

**Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies**

 **Chapter 7**

 **Ground Zero**

"Bravo."

"N.P. zero six two six three four."

"Charlie."

"Ninety-degree grid."

"Hotel."

"Surface."

"Juliet."

"Thirty-six hundred seconds."

"Kilo ten degrees."

"Romeo three point zero centigrade…."

"Fuze, turn your radio down." Tachanka hissed.

Fuze twisted the knob on his radio lowering the volume to a whisper.

The other operators were crouched behind other sets of parked cars off to the side of the road quietly waiting for their orders. The air was chilly. It was filled with the sound of the light steady rainfall and the sound of their breathing. Distant lightning boomed in unison with the distant gunfire. The storm was beginning to return. This would complicate their mission.

But despite the massive amounts of fighting and death that had occurred here, things looked peaceful.

Kapkan glanced down at his map one last time studying their coordinates. He wiped the rain water off the laminated cover so he could read it better. He peeked out from behind the car he was crouched behind and studied the rubble before him which was supposed to be a restaurant. The front face of the building was missing and had collapsed onto the first floor.

This should be Grim Sky's last known location.

"This is it." He said putting the map back in his satchel. Kaphan looked up toward the tall buildings behind him.

"Glaz, how do we look from up there?" Kaphan asked.

Over looking the city streets, Glaz sat perched on a roof top looking through the thermal optics of his OTS sniper rifle.

"I'm not detecting any heat signatures, but this rain is playing hell with my thermals so proceed with caution."

"Copy that. Glaz, continue covering our six o'clock. Everyone else, on me."

Jager wiped off the water beading on the black visor to his helmet and slowly stood up with the rest of his team keeping his weapon trained in front of him. He looked over his right shoulder at Bandit who hadn't left his side. He gave him a confident nod of approval. The Spetsnaz and GSG 9 hugged the surrounding buildings and crept up to the remains of the restaurant. They moved past body parts and corpses laying in the street. The tension felt in the group felt was like static electricity. They were afraid of what they were going to find. They hoped the body parts didn't belong to their teammates.

Kapkan kept the lead as he approached the bombed-out restaurant. He paused at the door halting the squad. He signaled for them to fan out and search. The operators nodded and spread out. They searched the restaurant methodically up and down.

Ash blinked back the soot in her eyes. Her vision was blurry. She found herself staring at the ceiling. She could hear the sound of rain and a radio hidden somewhere spouting nonsense. Then the immense amount of pain came.

She felt warm liquid on her stomach which made her nauseous. She raised her hands to inspect them. Her gloves had holes in them. She counted two hands and ten fingers on each. Her sleeves were shredded, and her arms had burns on them. She lifted her head slightly and placed her hands beneath the remains of her combat vest and felt her stomach. She recoiled at the stinging sensation and protrusion she felt. She brought her hands up see them covered in blood.

She began to panic.

Her body began to tremble as she tried to sit up to see what was wrong was her. She yelped at the intense pain and fell back down.

She tried to get up, but she couldn't. Her legs wouldn't work. She picked up her head again to inspect her legs.

They were shredded but miraculously still attached.

"Holy shit I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. I'm in so much trouble." She began to mumble.

She tried to roll over but cried out in pain as her body resisted to move.

"You have to get up. You have to get up." She said to herself in agony as she struggled to move. The moving made her cough up blood.

She stopped forcing herself to move and looked at her surroundings in a panic. The front of the restaurant was caved in. She was surrounded by rubble and debris. There was a hole in the ceiling with rain water flowing inside. She couldn't see her any of her teammates. She was alone.

Or so she thought.

She noticed a silhouette in the hole of the ceiling. It stared at her intently but didn't move. She couldn't make out what it was.

She reached her hand out to it.

"Please help me." She muttered. She was beginning to lose consciousness.

Two more silhouettes appeared from the shadows looking down on her from the hole.

Her hand trembled as she continued to reach out to them.

The silhouettes began to lean out from the hole in the ceiling. Ash recognized the shape of the three figures and was stricken by fear.

Before the silhouettes could close in on Ash, the sound of footsteps echoed from the front of her now. She kept her blood covered hand raised for help.

"I… need… help..." She struggled to say.

A silhouette appeared over a pile of rubble. It noticed her and began to run toward her.

The silhouette noticed her and broke through the shadows. The person wore a Spetsnaz uniform.

It was Tachanka.

"Jesus Christ." He muttered in Russian and took a knee beside her. He took her trembling hand and held it as he inspected her injuries. He began to mutter words in Russian that Ash could not understand as he unshouldered a pack with medical equipment in it.

Ash looked toward the hole in the roof. The silhouettes that had stared at her from before were gone.

"KAP! I NEED YOU! I NEED HELP!" Alex screamed.

"Alex…" She groaned.

Ash heard more footsteps. Kapkan appeared out of the shadows. He unslung a pack from his gear and took a knee across from Tachanka.

Tachanka took trauma sheers and cut away Ash's vest exposing a large chunk of shrapnel protruding from her abdomen. He also cut away one of pant legs on her uniforms exposing one of her badly injured legs. Tachanka and Kapkan looked up staring at each other. They had never seen one of their own operators so badly injured.

"Kap, inform Six that we have a survivor." Alex advised.

Kapkan nodded and jogged off somewhere out of Ash's view.

"Alex…" Ash tried to speak but she let out a blood curdling scream as Tachanka began to stabilize the piece of shrapnel and stop the bleeding.

"Don't speak Eliza. We're going to get you out of here. You're not bad. You have nothing missing." He said reassuring her.

"No… Alex… you have to listen to me." She struggled to say through the pain. She grabbed for Tachanka's sleeve with her other free hand pulling him in close.

"What? What's going on? What wrong?"

Ash pulled him in close.

"We're not alone."

Tachanka perked his head up as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise.

He felt a powerful force land behind him and swing for his head. He ducked underneath the object and held onto Ash tightly trying to protect her the best he could.

He glanced behind him to see an Apex let out a bellowing scream. One other Apex landed beside its right flank. The Apex front in center looked larger than the other as if it were the leader.

Glaz perked up his head from his sniper rifle when he heard the commotion on the radio.

"What's your status, over?" He asked with concern.

"WE'VE BEEN ENGAGED! WE'VE BEEN…" Tachanka's screams were cut off by an upper cut to the bottom of his jaw by the lead Apex. Tachanka flew backward away from Ash into a pile of rubble briefly incapacitating him. Fuze, Kapkan, and Jager rushed to his aid weapons at the ready.

The operators stood in a standoff with the two Apexes.

The lead Apex noticed the three operators and bull rushed them aiming for Jager. Kapkan fired at the Apex to slow it down but it was no use. Jager began to back pedal and fired wildly at the large Apex. Its body ate up the bullets having little affect. The Apex swung for Jager's head but Kapkan reacted quick enough to tackled Jager out of the way before he could lose his head. This opened a shooting lane for Fuze.

Fuze side stepped positioning himself between the lead Apex and the front exit. He began to fire at the Apex drawing its attention. The Apex turned to Fuze, let out a rebel scream, and bull rushed him. Fuze began to frantically backpedal and fire but he was too slow. The lead Apex lowered his shoulder and smashed right into Fuze knocking him to the ground. His weapon flew out of his hands leaving him defenseless staring up at the big hole in the ceiling.

"GLAZ YOU GOT A BAD GUY COMING OUT!" Tachanka yelled from somewhere out of Fuze's view. He turned his head and watched the lead Apex clear the building exit and run outside home free. The sound of Glaz's high powered sniper rifle boomed and echoed off the building as he began to engage the leader.

A third silhouette caught Fuze's eye from the edge of the gaping hole in the ceiling above him. The silhouette, seeing its target of opportunity, lunged from the shadows landing on top of Fuze. It was a third Apex, but it was smaller than the other two that had appeared. Fuze raised his leg trying to push the Apex off of him. It roared in rage at him but Fuze silenced it with a swift punch to its meaty face. The Apex recoiled back and roared again. Kapkan appeared behind the Apex with his entrenchment tool in hand and swung it like baseball cracking the Apex in the head. The Apex flew off of Fuze landing on its back. Jager stepped up and landed a few body shots on the Apex with his 4-16 as it scurried away from the Russians back toward the second Apex.

"ON YOUR FEET LETS GO!" Kapkan yelled as he kicked Fuze's AK toward him. Fuze scooped up his rifle from the ground and stood to his feet with his rifle shouldered.

The sight before him made him stop dead in his tracks.

The second and third Apex stood next to each other. The second Apex had Ash by the collar of her shirt. Ash kicked and screamed as the Apex dangled her in the air. The third smaller Apex stood over Tachanka and punched him in the head putting a dent in his helmet knocking him out again.

Jager and Kapkan moved toward Fuze's left and right with rifles pointed at the Apexes. Jager and Fuze glanced toward Kapkan waiting impatiently for their orders.

" _Since when did these things start taking hostages?"_ Jager wondered.

"Kap I don't have a shot. What do you want to do?" Fuze said trying to find a shooting lane that could hit the Apex without hurting Ash in the process.

"Hold you fire." Kapkan commanded moving his rifle back and forth between the two Apex's who were now back pedaling toward the exit with Ash.

"That tango blew past me. Permission to pursue." Glaz's voice came through the radio.

"Negative Glaz stay on the entrance." Kapkan said as he watched the Apexes clear the exit and escape with Ash in their clutches. He could hear Ash's cries for help and a small blood trail as she was carried away. He glanced down toward Tachanka who was still unconscious.

"Fuze, take care of Tachanka."

Fuze nodded and moved to aid his fallen teammate.

"Jager."

Jager turned to his squad leader.

"Pursue the enemy. Terminate with extreme prejudice. Get Ash back alive." Kapkan commanded.

Jager didn't speak. He gave Kapkan a quick nod and ran out of the building. He ran blindly through the rain as fast as he could chasing the sound of Ash's screams and following the blood trail down the streets.

"Jager this Kapkan do you copy?"  
"Send your traffic." Jager said between breaths as he sprinted.

"Stay in radio contact. The roaches are attacking our position so we're going to withdraw back toward the helo before we get surrounded. We'll loop around and pick you up once you have Ash secure. Nobody is going to leave you behind; I promise."  
"Copy that. What are we going to do with the evidence we found on the other operators?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the radio.  
"I don't know yet. Its puts us in a tough spot."

"Okay."

"Good hunting Jager, out."

Jager's radio fell silent as he continued to run. He could see the Apexes now moving as fast they can through the city. They were fast, but not fast enough to out run Jager.

"Bandit, you're still with me, right?" He asked looking over his shoulder.

His friend was sprinting in stride with him.

"Right here buddy. Let's get these sons of bitches."

Jager ran after the Apexes for what seemed like a mile and half until they came to T intersection. The third apex went left while the one carrying Ash went right.

Jager cursed in German.

The chase would become harder because if he continued to pursue Ash, the Appex that split left could circle around ambush him from behind.

"No guts no glory." He said to himself and made the right turn at the intersection. The third Apex was nowhere to be found. He watched the Apex carrying Ash duck into an abandon building and disappear into the darkness.

Jager stopped dead in his tracks at the entrance to the building hesitant to go inside. He would be going into a large structure completely blind with no back up. It was almost suicide.

"Jager."

Jager turned to his friend who was leaning in the doorframe.

"Don't be afraid." He said.

Eliza went into the unknown to save him from his helicopter crash. Now its his turn.

Jager took a nervous gulp.

"Okay. Let's do it."

Jager raised his rifle and walked slowly inside. The building wasn't actually abandoned. It just appeared that way from the outside. It was actually a hotel under construction. The inside had studded walls. Rooms were partially finished. Some areas were still completely covered in plastic wrap. Flickering lamps provided poor lighting in various sections of the building. The inside was quiet enough to hear the light drumming of rain off the roof and windows. He walked past the front desk of the hotel. There were double door leading to a stairwell that looked disturbed. He slowly moved up the stairs checking his corners as he went.

Jager wondered if this was how the blue team operators felt when they scrimmaged against his team. Except But he didn't have high tech drones or gadgets to aid him like blue team did. He wished Fuze or Glaz would have come with him.

Jager made it to the third floor before coming across another set of double doors that looked to be forcefully removed from its hinges. He figured that's where the Appex was hiding. Jager raised his rifle and slowly moved through the doors into a singular hallway.

To his amazement, he found Ash lying motionless on the ground in the middle of the dark hallway. All of the door to the hallway were wide open.

The Apex could ambush from any one of the rooms. It was clearly a trap.

He looked back toward Ash. Her wounds were worse than before from being aggressively carried. She was losing a lot of blood.

Jager took one step at a time down the hallway toward Ash. As he moved, he peeked into each room not knowing what to expect.

After what felt like an eternity of moving one inch at a time, he made it to Ash without conflict. He knelt down and took her hand. He felt her wrist for a pulse. It was weak and thready.

"It's a trap." She croaked.

Jager put gloved finger to her lips shushing her. Ash took the hint and stopped talking. He looked around waiting to be attacked.

" _Remember how you finally got Monika's number?"_ A voice said in his head. It was Bandit's voice.

Jager's mind flashed to that moment. When he had made that impressive shot through the wall at the training center.

" _That was luck."_ He sneered.

" _Trust your instincts Marius."_ Bandit coaxed him.

Jager stood perfectly still and listened. His mind acting like a super computer analyzing his surroundings. Taking in every moment and sound. As his mind focused, he began to hear the sound of his own heartbeat. He could Ash's shallow labored breathing.

And something else. In the room across from him. Through the wall hiding away. It sounded like heavy breathing.

Jager unholstered his pistol and lifted it slowly taking aim at the wall like he had done to Monika at the training building. He focused his mind on the sound. Analyzing its every detail. He moved his finger to the trigger.

The memory with Monika playing in his head.

His heart began to race.

The breathing on the other side of the wall began to pick up with intensity. Jager's hands quivered.

" _What if I miss? What if I mess up? Then we're all dead!"_ His conscience screamed.

" _Go on. Make it happen."_ Monika's soothing voice coaxed.

Jager pulled the trigger. The bullet penetrated the wall and a scream followed. He holstered his pistol breached the door to find the wounded Apex on the other side of the wall.

It lunged at him in a last-ditch effort but Jager shot it square in the face before it could reach him. It fell dead at his feet not moving. He fire three more shots into the dead body and gave a kick just to make sure.

Before he left the room, he took a quick look at the Apex.

Now that he had a closer look at it, he noticed it looked very human. Like the parasite had not truly taken form in the person yet. It explained why its behavior was different from his Apex encounters in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

He rushed back out of the door and knelt next to Ash who reached out her hand.

Jager took it.

"We got him." He reassured her.

She nodded back at him.

Jager tried to help her but she screamed in pain forcing him to drop her down.

"Eliza, this is going to hurt a lot. I'm sorry." He said and without any hesitation he lifted Ash into a firemen's carry. Ash screamed in massive amounts of pain.

He began to run as fast he can toward the exit. While he did so he radioed his position to Kapkan.

"Roger that Jager. We're on our way. Be there shortly."

Jager ran out into the rain and took cover behind a taxi cab by the front of the building and laid Ash in the back seat to keep her dry.

"Thank you for saving me." She whispered.

"Don't thank me just yet." He said and put pressure on her abdomen trying to stop the bleeding. Ash cursed and guarded her wound to stop the pain, but he held onto it tightly.

After a minute of waiting he heard the sound of chopper blades. He looked out the car window to see his helicopter coming in to land. The Russians were on board waiting. Jager removed Ash from the car and carried her to the helicopter which had landed about a block away from him.

There was a sudden roar from behind.

Jager turned around to see the lead Apex and the smaller Apex off to the side. The lead Apex raised its arms and roared. A red aura surrounded him as it began to summon roaches from the ground beneath him. Their arms turned to knives and began to sprint after Jager.

"COME ON! LETS GO! LETS GO! LETS GO!" The Russians screamed and waved at him from the helicopter. They raised their fire arms firing at their rapidly advancing enemy. Jager's chest pounded as he ran in a dead sprint through the rain toward his friends. His legs burned. His lungs heaved. He could hear the pursuing roaches right on his heels.

He made it to helicopter and slid Ash onto the floor of the helicopter. Fuze grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her in while Glaz and Kapkan continued to lay down covering fire.

"PILOT GET US THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" Kapkan yelled.

Ash used her last amount of strength to pull herself up and reach out her hand to help Marius aboard.

Marius reached out and grabbed her hand. Ash pulled as hard as she could and helped her teammate aboard.

Before Jager could take his lasts step onto the chopper, a roach broke through the line of gunfire and stabbed him in the back.

Its knife-like arms penetrated his body armor embedding itself in his body. Jager felt all of the air escape his body. He looked at Ash and the rest of his team once last time remembering their faces before his grip loosened on Ash's hand. He fell backward away from the helicopter as it lifted off into the sky. He crashed onto the wet asphalt staring up at the fleeing chopper.

"NO, NO, NO, TURN AROUND, TURN AROUND, MARIUS NOOOOO!" He could hear Ash cry as the helicopter flew off into the distance. Jager stared at the dark rain clouds above him. The deafening sound of the screaming infected was now all around him.

He closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry Monika." He whispered.


	10. Chapter 8

Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies

Chapter 8

Evidence

"Maxim…"

"MAXIM!"

I picked up my head looking at Six.

"Maxim, I understand how hard this is for you and your, but I need you to run by what you found one last time. I need to make sure I have all the facts right. What did you find in that restaurant?"  
I leaned forward in his chair taking a slow sip water.

I started from the beginning again…

…

"Bravo."

"N.P. zero six two six three four."

"Charlie."

"Ninety-degree grid."

"Hotel."

"Surface."

"Juliet."

"Thirty-six hundred seconds."

"Kilo ten degrees."

"Romeo three point zero centigrade…."

"Fuze, turn your radio down." Tachanka hissed from behind me.

I studied my map of the area. My coordinates matched up with the intel we were given.

This was definitely the place.

Seeing the bombed-out restaurant gave me chills. It was a true demonstration of what our fire support was truly capable of, but I never thought it would be used against our own people. The dead roaches and body parts laying everywhere only added to my anxiety.

After checking with Glaz to make sure the area was clear I ordered the squad to move up toward the restaurant. Once we reached the restaurant, I gave the order to fan out and begin the primary search.

The inside of the restaurant looked something out of a horror movie. More dead roaches were scattered in the rubble. There was a giant hole in the ceiling caused by the blast. With every passing minute, the more hope I lost in finding our friends alive.

I watched Tachanka wander off toward the back of the restaurant. Fuze, Jager and I searched from the point of impact from the shell and out.

"Maxim. I found something." Fuze said from one corner of the restaurant.

I made my way over to where Fuze was standing. He was shining a light on a pile of rubble. I studied the rocks trying to see what was so special about them.

"Don't you see?" Fuze asked.

"Fuze, it's just a pile of rocks."

Fuze knelt down a pointed at what looked two separate piles and a gap in between them.

"Somebody was buried here and escaped."

I studied the rocks with greater detail. Fuze was right.

"It could've been a roach that survived the blast." I argued.

"No roach this early in the epidemic could have the strength to unbury itself and escape. I only one person who could withstand such in impeccable odds…"

"Zofia." I cut him off.

"Correct."

I looked past the hole in the rubble. There were drag marks in the dirt along with some traces of blood. They led all the way to the exit before being washed away by the rain.

"Hey guys I found footprints over here." Jager called out from another end of the restaurant.

I walked over to Jager who was shining his flashlight on footprints in the rubble.

They too made their way to the exit.

Fuze jogged over to us and studied the footprints.

"Boys, I think they survived the blast."

…

"So, you think that Grim Sky survived the blast and escaped?"

"I'm certain of it. I tried to question Eliza to see if she saw anything, but she was too out of it to even remember anything."

"I'm sorry what happened Maxim."

I didn't speak. I didn't want to talk about it.

"Maxim, are you sure you want to go back in there after everything that happened?"

"Yes." I said in a low voice. I wanted to end this parasite. It killed my friends. It killed so many innocent people and I was tired of it all. I just wanted it to end. I wanted to save what was left and so did the rest of my team.

"And your team backs your decision?" She asked.

"Yes." I said confidently.

Six stood and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Okay. I'll get you a chopper, but remember about that air strike that's coming in? It'll be coming in a few hours, so you don't have much time." She said.

"We understand the risks Six."


	11. Chapter 9

Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies

Chapter 9

The Underground Part I

Finka's eyes opened to find her mask being pelted with water.

She was outside.

She abruptly sat up and checked her surroundings.

She sat in the city streets alone. The rain came in a steady downpour. She heard nothing but the wind blowing between the buildings that towered over her. She looked ahead and saw the restaurant they had used for shelter now a pile of rubble. The front half had been completely blown away.

She checked her own body for wounds.

Her hazmat suit was torn up but to her surprise she wasn't badly injured. Only a few cuts and scrapes.

She looked around for her light machine gun but couldn't find it.

She drew her pistol and stood to her feet and limped her way inside the restaurant to look for survivors.

As she raised her pistol as she entered the structure. There was a hole in the ceiling and crater in the center of the room where the artillery shell had landed.

"Lera…" A man's voice called out to her.

She turned to see her teammate Lion laying on the ground covered large concrete chunks.

"Lion! Are you okay?"

She ran to her teammate and began to check him for injuries.

"I'd feel a lot better if you got these rocks off of me." He said

She used all her strength to lift the giant blocks off of him.

"Fuck… these things are heavy…" She said as she struggled to lift, he last cement chunk. With a considerable amount of force, she was able to remove the last of the concrete freeing her partner. She gave him a hand and helped him up.

Lion dusted off his hazmat suit. He reached within the rubble and found his assault rifle with one magazine remaining in it. It was better than nothing.

"You have any comms?" Lion asked.

"Nope."

"Alright. We should check for more survivors." He said to her.

"Agreed."

The two operators split up dividing the room in half and frantically searched through the rubble for their friends.

"LERA! I GOT ONE!" Lion shouted from across the room.

Lera ran over to where Lion was standing being not to twist her ankle on the uneven terrain to see what looked like a scene straight out of horror movie.

A hand stood sticking straight into the air like a zombie coming from the crave.

The gloved hand looked familiar. It was Zofia.

"Lion, help me." Lera said and began to dig up their friend.

The two operators clawed at the dirt and hurled chunks of concrete as they attempted to free Zofia. Sweat glistened off of Finka's forehead as she dug.

A roar from the city streets outside made the two operators stop digging.

They looked toward the front opening of the building to see an Apex approaching them flanked by Roaches.

"We gotta get out of here!" Lion yelled and began to dig faster.

Finka continued to dig with her teammate until they had Zofia's top half uncovered.

"ZO WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!" Finka screamed at her friend while slapping her in the face.

Zofia came to and began to massage her temple.

"Finka, what happened?" She asked.

"No time to explain. We need to leave right now. Take my hands." Finka said reaching out both her hands.

They began to hear gunshots as Lion began to keep their advancing enemy at bay. They were now about to enter the doorway.

Finka pulled as hard as she could freeing Zofia from the rubble.

"What about Ash, Maverick, and Clash?" Zofia asked as she drew her pistol.

"Forget them, if we don't leave, we'll become roaches like the rest of London." Lion said

"What's the plan?" Zofia asked.

"Lion, you have any flashbangs left?"

"I have one left." He said pulling out his last flashbang.

"Use it and we're making a run for it."

"FLASH!" He yelled and hurled the grenade at the advancing enemies.

The three operators turned away from the grenade and covered their ears. The grenade exploded with a thunderous clap filling the room with the sour smell phosphorous. The bright light stunned their enemies.

"RUN!" Finka yelled. She lowered her shoulder pile driving the Apex in the gut sending him flying back clearing a path for her teammates. They through the front door into the rain. Finka didn't know where she was going or where, so she ran in a random direction hoping for the best.

She could hear footsteps behind her as the roaches reoriented themselves and gave chase.

"LOOK UP AHEAD!" Zofia pointed to sign.

Around the block were stairs leading to the London Tube system.

"TAKE THE STAIRS GO, GO, GO!" Finka shouted and sprinted for the stairs. The three operators turned the corner and bounded down the stairs into the darkness of the London Tube breaking sight from the enemy. The operators hid in the darkness of the stairwell and listened to see if their enemy would chase them into the subway system.

They heard the roaches run past the stairs and continue down the block.

The operators sighed of relief and walked down the stairs. They took in their surroundings trying to get their bearings.

The sound of their footsteps echoed off the walls of the white tiled hallways. There was trash everywhere. Destroyed vending machines blinked on and off advertising different sodas. Suitcases and backpacks with belongings torn out and laid to waste. It was as if London's population had dropped everything they were doing at same, and all turned their attention to something else.

Despite the air being chilly, the operators were happy to be out of the rain. The operators hopped over a set of turnstiles and ventured through the darkness of the London underground to an empty train platform. There were benches scattered everywhere. Graffiti on the walls. More trash and suitcases were scattered across the floors. A few lights up above blinked on and off making the place feel haunted.

Beyond the platform laid empty train tracks leading into dark tunnel.

Finka walked to the edge of the platform and squatted down observing the tracks and began to devise an escape plan.

Lion squatted down next to her. While Lion and Finka figured out a plan by the tracks, Zofia explored the cluttered platform. She kicked through the piles of clothing and trash. Something caught her attention. On the ground, a phone was lit up saying it had a missed voicemail. She picked up the phone, wiped off the dust from the screen, and stuffed it in her pocket. She regrouped with Lion and Finka at the edge of platform.

"You think any trains are still running?" Lion asked.

"Definitely not. British military quarantined this entire section of the city once the parasite was beyond their control, so it makes sense that this part of The Tube would be shut down. Nobody gets in or out" Finka answered in a grim tone.

"For all we know, this was probably the last train out of the city." Zofia added.

"What should we do then?"

"We walk the tracks Eastward toward the safe zone." Finka said and jumped off the platform onto the dirty tracks.

"How do we know which direction to go?" Zofia asked.

"From what the maps of the tracks are saying, this tunnel should take us that way. We'll move platform to platform."

Zofia and Lion jumped down from the platform onto the tracks and joined Finka. The three operators stood before an enormous tunnel. It was pitch black inside the tunnel so they couldn't see what was inside. Finka pulled a flare from her vest and lit it. She held up the flare and let its bright red light reveal the path ahead. Unfortunately, they could only see a few feet ahead into the tunnel before it turned to complete darkness with the flare.

Whatever laid on the other side of the tunnel was completely unknown to them.

Finka looked back toward her two teammates.

"Shall we?" She asked.

"Ladies first." Lion said.

Finka rolled her eyes and walked into tunnel. The darkness enveloping the red light Finka held up in her hand. Lion and Zofia followed close behind.

"Stay close together. Don't want to get turned around in here." Lion whispered in the darkness.

A breeze moaned in the tunnel. They could hear rats scurrying on the floor. Water dripping from the ceilings. The crunched underneath their boots and echoed off the concrete walls. To think that one of the busiest subway systems in the world was now almost a ruin.

Zofia pulled the phone she found on the platform out of her pocket. She swiped the screen to unlock the phone. She went to the voicemail box. The voicemail on the phone had been received a few weeks ago.

"Hey guys I found this. I'm going to play it if you don't mind." Zofia said holding up the phone in her gloved hand.

Zofia let the voicemail play on speaker.

A little girl's voice came on the phone.

She sounded scared.

" **Hey daddy its me. Just calling you off of mommy's phone. I miss you so much. I wish you didn't have to work so much. Mommy is really worried about you and I am too. I heard her say something about a sickness going around and that its dangerous where you are. Please don't get sick. You need to come home so mommy can stop worrying about you. So, I can stop worrying about you. I love you. Please call us back. I'll call again later."**

The phone went silent.

The message gave the operators chills.

Zofia looked at the phone's voicemail box.

"There's 29 unread voicemails left on this phone; all left by the same number." She said to the group.

Lion muttered something in French that the other operators didn't understand.

"When my father would go overseas on missions, I would call him and leave messages just like the one you just listened to." A recognizable voice said next to Zofia.

It was Meghan. Her imaged faded into the faint red light Finka's flare.

"When you've been fighting an enemy for so long, you tend to forget that at one point before the fighting, they were civilians living a normal ordinary life just like the rest of us. These infected people were once human. Humans with loved ones and live of their own." Meghan continued.

Zofia didn't respond. She thought about Meghan's words. They made her sad. When Zofia was young she would leave her father messages and wait for his return just the girl on the phone. That was the time before her father started abusing her and her younger sister. But in this case, the difference between Zofia and the girl on the phone is her father returned to her after being absent for a period time. From the way things looked in London, the little girl on phone would most likely never see her father again as he was probably killed or infected. It made Zofia wonder how long the little girl has been waiting for her father to return home. She pictured the little girl sitting by her front window. Waiting patiently for his car to pull into the driveway so she could run out the front door screaming "daddy's home, daddy's home" and wrap her father up in her arms. The realism of the situation was darker than Zofia could ever imagine.


	12. Chapter 10

Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies

Chapter 10

Rogue Protocol

"Bravo."

"N.P. zero six two six three four."

"Charlie."

"Ninety-degree grid."

"Hotel."

"Surface."

"Juliet."

"Thirty-six hundred seconds."

"Kilo ten degrees."

"Romeo three point zero centigrade…."

"Maverick, what does that radio sequence mean?" Clash asked from the bus top bench. She held a broke radio in her hands. Its signal receivers were spotty and she couldn't send out a distress signal.

Maverick leaned against the supports of the bus top canopy smoking a cigarette. He stared at the rain pouring on the city streets. Somewhere in the distance he could hear chopper blades beating through the air/ but it was nowhere near his position where he could see it.

"It's an after-action report." He said and took a drag.

"From the artillery strike?"

"Yes."

"I still can't believe they actually bombed us. Good thing my shield held up for the both of us or we would've been toast. Mira and Twitch are going to kill me when they find out I shattered it."

Maverick took the last drag from his cigarette and flipped the butt into the rain. Clash was right. If it hadn't been for her quick reaction time, the blast would've fried the both of them but thanks to Clash's wit and the sturdiness of her shield, they were protected from most of the blast. Unfortunately, they couldn't say the same for their friends. They didn't have time to search for survivors. Right after the blast more roaches swarmed upon them forcing them to run away. After running for what felt like forever and running scarce on ammo, the infected finally gave up on their chase giving them a chance to rest.

"Do you think they'll come back for us?" Clash asked.

Maverick sighed and took another drag from his cigarette. He stared down at the M4 he cradled in his hands. He had been in this situation once before back in Afghanistan.

"No. No they won't." He said grimly.

"What? Whatever happened to no man left behind? Does that mean anything…"  
"Morowa…" Maverick cut her off.

Clash fell silent.

"We're soldiers. Cannon fodder. You honestly think they're crying over a few lost soldiers? Get a hold of yourself."

"But how do you know that's what they think?"

"Because nobody came for me when I was captured in Afghanistan! If it wasn't for my friend I wouldn't be here today!" Maverick now with rising anger.

"I'm sorry."

"If you don't mind me asking, who was your friend? You've mentioned him before but never told me about him."

Maverick smiled at the thought of his friend. He more of a brother than a friend. They'd been to hell and back. They'd taken some of the world's most deadly opponents.

"His callsign was Vanguard."

"Vanguard?"

"Yes. I still miss him to this day. Great soldier and a great friend. He was a brother to me." Maverick thinking back to his time in Afghanistan.

"So, you two worked together in Afghanistan? What did you both do? I know you two went off the grid for a really long time."

Distant gunfire began to sound from somewhere in the city causing Maverick to tense. He looked out to the city streets but didn't see anything.

"It's classified." He responded.

"Bullshit Mav. You and I work in the most top-secret unit in the world. I'm sure there's nothing more secret above us." Clash argued not accepting his answer.

Maverick chuckled at the statement and tried to think how he could describe someone who was directly responsible for killing one of there most valuable operatives.

Before he could speak, he heard a blood curdling screen broke the ambient sound of rain echoing off the empty buildings. Clash stood up from her seat.

"You hear that?"

"Yeah, I did. It sounded close. Let's go."

Clash put the radio in her pouch and drew her pistol. The two operators jogged through the streets with their weapons at the ready. As the operators advanced with each block, the sound of screaming and gunfire began to pick up in volume. Then they heard chopper blades.

They were getting close.

"Think its Rainbow?" Clash asked between breaths.

"Could be. Let's pick up the pace. Maybe we can catch that helicopter out of here."

The operators were now sprinting through the rain. Visibility was poor from the weather so they couldn't see too far down the road. After running for another 15 minutes they came across a chaotic scene.

Before them they saw two figures running for their lives from a mass of infected. In front of them, a British helicopter with figures inside shouting an laying down suppressive fire.

The two operators ran toward the chaotic scene to get a better look.

"Is that Jager and Ash running away? And is that the Spetsnaz in the helo?" Clash asked as they ran.

"Yes and Ash looks like she's hurt! We need to get to that helicopter fast!" Maverick shouted.

The two operators ran in a dead sprint now. They were about three blocks away from the helicopter. The only thing blocking their path was the mass of infected.

"What about the infected?" Clash asked beginning to fire at the infected.

"Run past them! Don't let that helicopter leave without us!" Maverick responded and began to take pot shots with his M4.

Maverick and Clash watched in horror as Jager and Ash made it to the helicopter. He passed Ash's body to the Spetsnaz before being stabbed in the back by a roach. A small group began to swarm around him.

"NO! JAGER!" Clash yelled out.

The helicopter began to lift off into the sky and swiftly flew toward the horizon. They could hear Ash's screams for Jager as they flew away.

"PROTECT JAGER!" Clash screamed and began to engage the roaches head on as began to mob around Jager's body. She spotted two Apexes and began to fire at each of them. Maverick joined in.

Different from usual infected behavior, instead of engaging the operators head on. All of the roaches withdrew fleeing in all directions until they were alone in the streets. They'd most likely be back but in greater numbers so they had to help Jager quickly.

Maverick and Clash ran up to Jager and began to tend to his injuries. He was stabbed in the chest causing him to lose blood rapidly. Clash put pressure on the wound making Jager wince.

"Stay calm Marius. You're gonna be okay." She said trying to stop the bleeding.

"Did Ash get out okay?" He mumbled.

"Yeah. She made it." Clash said.

"Good." He said and stared at the cloud above him.

"Jager stay with me. We're not going to lose you."

"Clash…" Jager tried to speak.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Behind you…" He said pointing at something behind her.

She turned around to see the barrel of a pistol pointed at her forehead. The gun fired, and Clash's body fell lifelessly to the ground. Blood began to pour out her cranium. Jager watched in a front row viewing of one his fellow operators being murdered.

Maverick stepped over her body with the smoking M1911 and stood over Jager.

Maverick aimed the gun at Jager's forehead. Jager looked down the barrel of the gun. He thought he was going to be saved, but now it looked like he just can't catch a break.

"Maverick? What is this? What are you doing?" Jager struggled to speak in a haze of confusion.

"I'm finishing what a close friend of mine started. I find it ironic that the lone wolf of team Rainbow is about to die alone." He said coldly.

Jager had to think quickly. He slowly reached toward his chest at his radio without alarming Maverick. He pressed the button on his mic. Maverick had forgotten that Marius's comms was still operational. He had to relay his message to someone that there was a rogue operator on the loose. He pressed the button and held it giving him an open mic. He hoped someone was listening.

"Who is your friend Maverick? Why do you have it out for Rainbow?" Jager asked.

"I can't reveal all of my secrets Marius."

"Rainbow will go into rogue protocol. They'll come for you." Jager struggled to speak through the pain he was already in.

"How can they come for me if no one witnesses me going rogue?" Maverick sneered.

An image began to shimmer in the rain before him.  
Ela stood behind Maverick.

"End this Maverick. We have much work to do." She whispered in her ear.

Maverick's took aim with his pistol pulling back at the hammer.


	13. Chapter 11

Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies

Chapter 11

Underground: Part II

"I saw it again today. That light at the end of tunnel. Nobody knows where the light is coming from, what it is, or where it leads to. One of these days I'm going to chase that light to the very end. Maybe it's a way out of the quarantine zone? Who knows what it could possibly be? I mean there's rumors going around of openings in the tube tunnels that people have been using to escape to freedom. I have yet to see one but apparently, they're out there. You just have to hope the military doesn't shoot you on your way out. You can't trust anyone anymore. God, I miss the outside. I miss the liveliness of this once great city. Buzzing with people going about their daily lives. Now you can't even go above the surface without getting killed. One of these days I'm going to do it. I'd rather risk my life trying to escape this place then wait around to eventually die a painful death. Let's just hope there's willing to help me on the other side."

The female's voice on the phone went silent.

Zofia threw the phone off to the side.

The party had been walking for a while now. They had no idea whether it was day or night. Everything was dark except for a few of the train stations along the way. As the operators ventured further and further into the London underground, they began to wonder if they'd ever see the light of day ever again like the person on phone was saying. The place where they had found the phone was tucked into a lone sleeping bag hidden in one of the train stations.

"You hear what the woman on the phone said? Military shooting civilians? People living in the metro?" Zofia asked Finka who was leaning against a metal post by the edge of the tracks.

"Yeah. I can't imagine what they must be going through." She said.

"Disaster can bring out the worst in everyone. People who were once kind can become extremely dangerous out of pure desperation to survive. We should tread lightly Finka. Wouldn't want to risk getting jumped." Lion added.

Finka looked down at her feet. She remembered the Chernobyl crisis when she was child. The mass evacuations. The killings for a few crumbs of bread or droplet of water. It was every man for himself. You don't know what a person is truly capable of until their life is on the line.

"We continue moving forward. But from this point on, any person that poses a threat to us, shoot on sight." Finka said coldly.

Lion and Zofia nodded. The operators gathered their belongings and jumped off the train platform onto the tracks and continued their journey through the darkness of the subway tunnels.

…

The M1911 pistol trembled in Maverick's hands. The iron sights trained on Jager's head.

"What are you waiting for Maverick? Kill him before the infected come back here." Ela hissed.

"Don't do this Mav. Please. This isn't you. Its not worth it. Killing me will only get yourself killed." Jager tried reasoning.

"SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" Maverick screamed.

"Maverick. Ela. Stop this." A new voice said.

Maverick didn't hesitate at the new voice. It was a familiar voice.

Meghan placed a hand on Ela's shoulder.

"Ela, please…"

"Go. Away. Meghan." Ela said angerly.

"Your anger is consuming you and has turned you into someone you're not. You're bent on revenge. I know you're upset but killing isn't going to undo what's already been done." Meghan argued.

"SHUT UP MEGHAN!" Ela screamed and threw a punch at her.

Her fist went through Meghan's image turning it to dust. The commission distracted Maverick for just a second.

A voice buzzed in the back of Jager's head in that moment. It was Dominic's voice.

" _RUN!"_

One second was all the time Jager needed.

Jager reached out for Mavericks pistol and grabbed it. With all his strength, he pulled the pistol down toward him to his side knocking Maverick off balance causing him to fall toward him. Jager didn't feel any more pain. Only the desire to survive. He wanted to go home so he could see his friends again. He didn't want to die by a cowardly act of betrayal.

As the unsuspecting Maverick fell toward him, Jager let out a triumphant yell and threw a fist as hard as he could aimed straight for Maverick's face. Jager's fist cracked Maverick across the face sending flying off to the side.

"MAVERICK HE'S GETTING AWAY!" Ela screamed but Maverick was too dazed to do anything to stop him.

" _RUN JAGER! RUN!"_ Dominic and now Meghan were yelling in his head.

Jager quickly jumped to his feet and scooped up his 4-16. He began to run blindly down the rainy street. Ela's yelling beginning to fade behind him. In front of him he saw an open manhole cover.

Jager baseball slid toward the hole and fell down landing in ankle high water. He cursed and grimaced as he stood to his feet. Jager began to limp his way down the tunnel having no idea where he was going.

Note:

Sorry for the short chapter. I haven't had much writing time lately which makes me sad. I hate being an adult.


	14. Chapter 12

Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies

Chapter 12

The Underground: Part III

"Okay. Someone needs to explain to me what's going on. What just happened back there?" Jager asked as he limped through the dark sewers. The stench of the dirty water made him nauseous and made his clothes wet. Water poured in through sewer grates above him.

No one responded to his question.

"Guys?" Jager called out. He looked around and realized he was alone.

Jager began to mutter obscenities under his breath. He felt so confused. Why is Maverick rogue? Why was he able to see Ela? And Meghan? There were so many unanswered questions in his head and he desperately wanted to understand. The pain in his abdomen wasn't helping him think. With that thought, Jager remembered he had been injured. He had been so high on adrenaline that he had forgotten all about his injury.

Jager sat on the concrete floor along the masonry cave wall of the sewer. He unzipped his combat vest and delicately removed it from his body. The task of removing his combat vest, which was usually easy, was now a painful and slow task. Once the vest was removed, he inspected it.

The roach's claw had penetrated through the back of the Kevlar fabric into the small of his back. The vest, which used to be tan in color, was now a sickly brown around the area he had been stabbed.

He lifted his olive hoodie and felt for the wound in his back. He felt an indentation in his skin which was warm and sticky. When he removed his hand from the wound and inspected it. The palm of his hand was covered in blood.

"Oh my." He whispered to himself.

"You look in rough shape their bud. Typical of you to get wounded." A male voice said. Dominic's image appeared seated to Jager's left. He smoked a cigarette as he sat with his friend.

Jager rolled his eyes at Dominic's comment.

Dominic laughed at his friend's frustration.

"I'm glad my slow painful death is funny to you." Jager snapped as he reached into a pocket of his combat vest and pulled out a small trauma kit.

"Just trying to make a bad situation a little bit easier to deal with. Hey, I think you're wrapping your wound wrong." Dominic pointed out and took a drag on his cigarette.

"I'm an engineer, not a medic." Jager growled as he struggled to help himself.

"You always say that! That's your excuse every time you fuck up. 'I'm an engineer, not a medic.' Aren't engineers supposed to be smart? It's a roll of gauze for God's sake not an enigma machine." Dominic mocked and took another drag from his cigarette.

Dominic's sarcasm was beginning to grate on Jager's nerves.

"Would you leave Jager alone Dominic! Sheesh you're so rude." A female voice said. Meghan's image began to appear in front of him. She squatted down in front of him looking him over. She placed a hand on his arm.

"Don't listen to Dominic. You need to stop that bleeding." She coaxed.

"Yeah I'm trying to accomplish that but dunkoff over there keeps distracting me." Jager said as he continued to mend his own wounds in hopes of stopping the bleeding. The location of the injury made it difficult to work on.

"Wait. Marius. If you actually bleed out and die due to my distractions, then I guess we can literally say I was the… 'death of you.'" Dominic said and burst out laughing at his own joke.

Meghan and Jager stared blankly at the German unenthused by his joke.

"What? Come on that was good." Dominic shrugged.

Jager and Meghan returned to their conversation pretending like they didn't hear what he had said.

"Meghan, what's going on? I don't understand what's happening." Jager said as he wrapped the finishing touch of gauze around his body.

"Its Ela. She's pissed." Meghan said bluntly.

"Yeah, that's one bad bitch. I like bad girls. Bad girls with daddy issues." Dominic said throwing the cigarette in the sewage water.

"What's she pissed about?" Jager asked while ignoring Dominic's comment.

"Pretty much everything that's happened to her. Between being killed by her own family and being so disconnected with everything she's in a fit of rage. So now she's getting her revenge."

"And what about Maverick?"

"Maverick is a different story. It goes a while back. Do you remember a man named Vanguard? The name should sound very familiar to you."

The name struck a cord in Jager. Of course, he knew who Vanguard was. He murdered Meghan and his friends. He had the United Nations turn on Rainbow on false charges of crimes against humanity. The slight thought of Vanguard's existence made Jager angry.

"Yeah… I remember." Jager said trying to keep his composure.

"That was Maverick's best friend. The two of them go way back to when Maverick was undercover in Afghanistan."

"So Maverick is trying to get revenge on Rainbow for killing his friend? That doesn't make any sense. Maverick joined Rainbow after Vanguard's death. He had to of known he was a traitor."

"I think Maverick was a sleeper. All apart of Vanguard's plan to get to us. They both went to the same training camp. Were both educated together. They share the same ideologies. Maverick is here to destroy us from the inside. It explains his behavior with the rest of the operators, and I think Ela is using Maverick's motivations to get to us."

"Jesus… Vanguard has been dead for so long, yet he's still trying to take us down." Jager said realizing the depth of the situation they were in.

Meghan knelt down in front of Jager and held his face so she could look him dead in his blue eyes.

"Jager. Listen to me and concentrate. We're in Rogue Protocol now and I don't know who we can trust. This part of London is lawless so it's basically a free for all. It doesn't matter if you're a part of the military or not. If you're a healthy human being, you'll be taken as a threat to anyone left alive. The remaining operators of Grim Sky are still alive and wandering the underground. They have no idea but they're in grave danger. You have to find them before someone else does."

"Danger? Are their more Roaches down here?"  
Meghan shook her head.

"The Roaches are nothing to be afraid of. Their behavior is predicable. It's the normal people that scare me. Linking up with Grim Sky is your best chance of getting out of this. Find them. Hurry."

"What? How am I supposed to find them? The underground is huge." Jager began to babble.

Meghan stood to her feet and reached out a hand.

"They call you 'hunter' for a reason. Hunt them down. Save your friends." She said confidently.

"Meghan, I don't know…"

"Jager. You have to do this. Save your friends as they did for you." Meghan cut him off. Her words spurred courage within him.

"Okay." Jager said and took Meghan's hand. He struggled to his feet. The wound would be kept in check for now.

"Let's do this."


	15. Chapter 13

Rainbow Six Siege: Shattered Skies

Chapter 13

Beacon for Help

"Ma'am, I'm reading a signal that you might want to check out." A soldier called into Six's tent holding a laptop. Soldiers busted around typing on computers, talking on comms with other units, and running back and forth. Ever since the Royal Air Force had started increasing their bombings in the northwest district of London, the tent had gotten much busier with activity.

"Bring it here." She motioned for him to come to her desk.

The soldier placed the computer on her desk. On the screen showed a map of London.

"Ma'am this blip popped up on radar about 5 minutes ago. I think it's a distress beacon from one of your operators."

Six pulled the computer in for a closer look. Within the cluttered streets of London on the map, a small blip pinged steadily beckoning for anyone in the area to come to it. She surprised the beacon went off. She had thought she had lost her whole team was KIA.

"Alert the Spetsnaz of the signal and set up briefing. They're going in to investigate."

"Yes ma'am." The soldier said and closed the laptop. He hustled out of the tent.

…

"None of this makes any sense. I thought the rest of Grim Sky was dead. They refused to let us go back to make sure of that. Now this random SOS beacon shows up and we're aloud to go back in?" Fuze said as he tightened his breathing apparatus to his face.

"We weren't allowed to go back in because we didn't have proof of anyone left alive in there. This beacon changes things. Its all the evidence we need to do another search. Those beacons are activated manually and only by a Rainbow Six operative. I just don't know why they waited this long to trigger it." Tachanka explained.

"Let's not over think things. We get in and get out as quiet as we can." Glaz said looking over his kit one last time.

The operators walked down a narrow concrete corridor and stopped before a metal gate that towered over them. Despite it being early daylight and sun finally rising, the gate looked scarier than ever. A sign on it read, "WARNING! YOU ARE NOW LEAVING THE SAFE AREA! RESPIRATOR IS REQUIRED BEYOND THIS POINT!" Ripped British flags halfheartedly waved in the breeze. One each side, of the large gate, a mixed concrete and sandbag wall with entrenched soldiers with mounted machine guns and heavy weaponry patrolled along the line. The soldiers on the wall showed a mix of emotions from tiredness to absolute fear. Beyond the British trenches was the Northwest District of London. Its large buildings were bombed out and destroyed. Faces of buildings had been taken off or entire sections had been leveled from the continuous bombings. It was almost like looking back in time when Nazi Germany would bombard Londoners with V1 and V2 rockets.

The trenches were the front line that stopped the advancing epidemic. Beyond the fence was the contaminated zone. A soldier approached the operators with a clipboard. He had dark circles under his eyes. He looked like the battle had aged him 30 years.

"I assume you're the Spetsnaz units going beyond the wall?" He said with a tired tone.

"Yes sir." Kapkhan said.

"Good. You're right on time. I'm the gatekeeper and overseer of the wall. We've encountered small waves of roaches earlier this morning but were able to take them down with ease. The frontline has been quiet for a few hours now so you should be clear to move through the area. I'm surprised the air couldn't spare you a helicopt…"

"HEY! YOU OUT THERE! STAND BACK OR WE WILL FIRE ON YOU!" A soldier screamed and pointed in the distance attracting everyone's attention. The Russians and the Gatekeeper moved to gate looking out into the distance. Soldier's aimed their weapons at a woman and what looked like a child struggling to climb through the rubble toward the trenches.

"DO YOU TWO HAVE A DEATH WISH? GET BACK! STOP!" The soldier yelled.

The woman and child stopped dead in their tracks.

"HELP US! ITS MY SON! YOU HAVE TO HELP HIM!" The woman yelled back and held up the small child to show them.

A soldier jogged up to the Gatekeeper with a pair of binoculars.

"Sir. It's a woman and child. Your orders?" He said and the Gatekeeper the binoculars.

The Gatekeeper peered through the binoculars at the woman and child. Despite the woman looking completely normal, the child on the other hand looked dazed and confused like something was wrong with him. The Spetsnaz operative exchanged glances with each other unsure of the situation.

"The child appears to be infected and the mother probably is too."

The Gatekeeper handed the binoculars back.

"Kill them both." He said coldly.

The soldier nodded and jogged back to his post on the frontline. The soldiers raised their guns.

The woman's face turned to pure horror. She began to take small steps back.

The air began to explode with the sound of machine gun fire and the screams of its victims. The Russians peered through the gaps in the fence and watched as the woman and child were shredded to pieces by the machine guns.

"SEIZZZZZZE FIRE! SEIZZZZZZE YOUR FIRE!" A voice yelled out.

The machine guns fell silent. Nobody spoke or moved. Nothing could be heard but the breeze over the landscape. The Russians stared in awe at the woman and child who were now bloody pulps in the landscape.

Glaz was the first one to break. He walked up the Gatekeeper and grabbed him by the front of his uniform startling him.

"What the hell was that?" Glaz growled.

"They were infected, so we disposed of them." The Gatekeeper responded.

"You decided to shred apart your own people just by looking at them through binoculars from 100 yards away." Glaz argued.

The Gatekeeper stared Glaz in the face.

"You have a problem with things? Gripe to a superior. Now let me go before you join them."

Glaz didn't speak. His icy blue eyes glared at the Gatekeepers. The Russians stood behind Glaz also staring at the Gatekeeper. Glaz released the Gatekeeper.

"Open the gates then." Glaz said and turned away from the Gatekeeper.

The Gatekeeper smirked and turned to his men.

"Open the gates!" He commanded. He turned back to the Russians.

"Be careful in there. Not many have made it back alive." The Gatekeeper snarked.

"Stop acting like we've never operated here before." Glaz said and turned his attention to the mission before him.

The Gatekeeper shook his head in frustration and walked away.

The gates began to groan in protest as its mechanical parts began to shift. The doors began to slowly open revealing the desolate environment beyond the wall. The Russian operators turned toward what waited for them on the other side.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire." Fuze said and cocked the charging handle on his AK.

"Yeah you can say that again." Kapkhan said and signaled his men forward into the abyss.

 **Message to my readers** :

I'm trying the best I can to upload chapters more frequently. I know how much you guys love the Rainbow Six franchise and I love it too, but I think I'm starting to get bored writing about it. I haven't played Siege since the release of Grim Sky just because I haven't been interested in playing it. I love writing but I think I need a change in scenery. I just finished playing this game called Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and the story was absolutely amazing. Highly recommend it. Also, if you haven't figured it out already, I love the Division. Yeah, I know, people didn't think the first Division was a very good game, but I got past some of the brokenness and have some great memories of the game. I love the lore of the whole series too. Its super interesting. I've been a fan of the game since the beginning so of course I've been playing the Division 2 a bunch. The lore is just as a good if not better. I play on PS4 so if any of you guys play the Division 2 you can find me rogue in the DZ (; . But reason why I'm saying this is expect this series to be wrapped up rather soon. I'd like to make fanfiction for a different Clancyverse or for a different game entirely. I might make a Division fanfiction but I'm still on the fence. I really don't know what I want to do. Let me know what you guys think. If you guys have any idea as to what fanfiction I should I write next or if you want me to continue with this series let me know! I love hearing your ideas I find them inspiring to me.

Thank you,

Reactive


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